Hello @user-p
first never be sorry for any question you ask i am glad to help as much as i could
from the scale link you mentioned this one https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/transform-function/scale
The scale() CSS function defines a transformation that resizes an element on the 2D plane.
2D is short for 2 dimension
also it said Because the amount of scaling is defined by a vector, it can resize the horizontal and vertical dimensions at different scales
This scaling transformation is characterized by a two-dimensional vector. Its coordinates define how much scaling is done in each direction.
so the amount you provide determine the scaling for each coordinate
if you notice the first image show you how the small rectangle scaled to be the bigger rectangle
also notice there another version of scale scale3d()
in light way explanation of how scale work
let us assume we use scale(2,0.5) that mean it will double it size horizontally and shrink it to half vertically
so if an element has size 10 pixel x 10 pixel the result would be 20 pixel x 5 pixel
so imagine it as you double each pixel in x-axis and divide each pixel by half in the y-axis
check this link from the w3c website the guys who make the web standard
https://www.w3.org/wiki/CSS3_2D_Transforms#Scale
why i said you need to learn vector and matrix from math cause that how things work in the backend
and i do not mind to be corrected if i am wrong about anything as that how i learn
and by the way i am just learner same as you and even if i become one of those expert i would not mind to learn anything from anyone and i did not get offended if you told me that i am wrong about something
so feel free to hit me with any question anytime and the delay of replay cause i am a learner so i am volunteer same as others so sometime i am busy sometime i look for answer sometime lazy 
by the way it better to click the replay to the person comment so he/she get notified by email when you replied
let me know if you have any question and will be happy to help with it and have a nice day 