Question

The scale of a map is 1 : 50000. The area of a city is 40 sq km which is to be represented on the map. Find: The length of a scale in km represented by 1cm on the map.

Answer 1

1cm on the map = 50,000cm on the land (as the scale is 1 : 50000)
1km = 100000cm = 2 x 50000cm

`"distance(map)"/"distance(land)"` = Scale

`(1)/("distance(land)" xx (100000)) = (1)/((50000)`

Hence 1cm on map

= `(50000)/(100000)`
= 0.5km.