Since I’ve spent a weekend studying maps, I thought a quick post on the maths involved would be in order. Although it might not be immediately obvious, what we are looking at are Ratios – and this can be a pleasant change from mixing paint which is what many questions in Exams about ratio seem to be about!

Now here is a map of one of my favourite places in the world – and comments from anyone who agrees are welcome!  The point is, a map represents the place you want to visit so obviously has to be a lot smaller than the place itself!  (Ok so this reminds me of a favourite Blackadder joke but lets not get off the point)

The map shown here is to the scale 1:25000 if you have it before you. (I can’t make a similar claim from the picture you can see, as that will depend on the size of your browser!)

If you measure on the map that you are 2cm from the car park and pub*, how far do have left to walk?

2 * 25000 = 50000cm.  Which is great but we don’t usually measure walking distances in centimetres. 50000cm = 500m or 0.5km

Activity  : Find a map of your town and measure the distance to a place your often visit.  Don’t assume your map has the scale 1:25000.  The scale for your map will be written somewhere, perhaps even the front of the map.

*Actually the first pub I ever had a pint of beer!