Most often these days we use a GPS or an application on our phones to help us get around, but there are still times when traditional paper maps are more useful. A cartographer is a person who creates maps, anything from printed road maps to digital maps to maps that help you find the tigers or penguins at the zoo. Click each of these images to see maps that cartographers have created.
When a cartographer starts working on a new map, he or she must create a legend or key that tells anyone looking that map what scale was used to draw it. One inch on the map might correspond to 100 miles of actual space or road. To figure out how far you've come or how far you need to go, you must measure the distance from one point to another and then convert these inches into actual miles.
Suppose you are reading a map that uses a scale of one inch for every fifty miles. How far do you need to travel if your departure and arrival cities are seven inches apart on the map?
In your notebook, set up a proportion problem, and solve for the missing distance. Click on the Answer Button below to check your work.
If x is distance in miles, \(\mathsf{ \frac{1}{50} = \frac{7}{x} }\).
Then cross multiply: x = 350 miles
