The scale on a map shows 5 centimeters = 2 kilometers

Question

What number of centimeters on the map represents an actual distance of 5 kilometers

Answer 1

Hi Kaleb!

This question has to do with proportions. If you know that every 2 km is 5 cm, then setting up a proportion will tell us how many cm are required to map out 5 km.

So we can put km or cm on the top or bottom, as long as you're consistent!

2 km = 5 km

5 cm ? cm

So now there are a couple ways to solve but I want to get my question mark alone on it's own side, so I will first divide by 5 on both sides.

1 2 km = 5 km 1

5 5 cm ? cm 5

So now I will get

2 = 1

25 ?

However I want my ? to be on the top or in the numerator, so I will flip both fractions to get

25 = ?

2

And so my answer would be 25/2 cm or 12.5 cm!

Hope that helped!