Math Is Fun Forum

spanishmaster88

Member

Registered: 2008-01-31

Posts: 2

trouble answering this question

your boss askied you to go to Chevys and pick up a burger for him. You can't decide whether to drive or walk. If it's less than a mile to chevys, you'll walk and get some exercise.

The map you have has a ratio scale of 1:24,000. One inch on the map equals 24,000 inches in the real world.

You measure two inches on the map from your office to Chevys..

1) How far is it, in feet, from your office to Chevys

2) Do you drive or walk?

LuisRodg

Real Member

Registered: 2007-10-23

Posts: 322

Re: trouble answering this question

You measure two inches on the map from your office to Chevys. Since the map has a 1:24,000 scale that means that there is 48,000 inches from your office to Chevys (2x24,000).

1) 48,000 inches = 4000 feet (1 feet = 12 inches)

2) Check how much is 4000 feet in terms of a mile.
4000 feet = 0.757575...miles
Therefore 4000 feet is less than a mile to Chevys, so you walk./

John E. Franklin

Member

Registered: 2005-08-29

Posts: 3,588

Re: trouble answering this question

1.)  There are 2 roads, the big real road and the tiny map road.
Call one "BigRoadLength", and the other "TinyPaperPieces".
Now we see that inches and feet are both mentioned.
You can convert 24 inches to 2 feet by dividing 24 by 12.
You can also convert 3 feet to 36 inches by multiplying 3 by 12.
There are more inches than there are feet.

Make equations from the map scale.  How?
The map is 24000 times smaller than the big world.
This means that if you had 24000 maps, and you
cut out the road on the map with scissors on all
of these 24 thousand maps, and then put these
pieces in a row all the way down the street, then
the pieces will reach perfectly to where you are
trying to buy the burger.

So,  24000 TinyPaperPieces = 1 BigRoadLength.
Did you see that equation I just wrote.
It means that 24000 tiny maps is the same size as
the road.  Did you know 24000 tiny maps is the
same thing as multiplying??
24000 × TinyPaperPieces = 1 BigRoadLength
Now another important thing to know
is that if you take the road and put a mark on
the road hundreds of times, actually 240 hundred
times, like every 2 inches, then you have
"divided" the BigRoadLength into 24000 parts.
So lets write another equation.
1 BigRoadLength ÷ 24000 chalk lines = TinyPaperPiecesLength

So here are the 3 equations I have made:
24000 TinyPaperPieces = 1 BigRoadLength
24000 × TinyPaperPieces = 1 BigRoadLength
1 BigRoadLength ÷ 24000 chalk lines = TinyPaperPiecesLength

I hope this helps a little bit.  If not, maybe someone else can explain all the way to the answer...

Last edited by John E. Franklin (2008-01-31 14:02:17)

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igloo myrtilles fourmis

LuisRodg

Real Member

Registered: 2007-10-23

Posts: 322

Re: trouble answering this question

John E. Franklin,

Was my answer incorrect? i dont see the need for so much trouble when it can be solved with common sense. Or so i think.

John E. Franklin

Member

Registered: 2005-08-29

Posts: 3,588

Re: trouble answering this question

I didn't know you had already answered, sorry.
I started before your answer was there, that's
how slow I am.  Don't believe it?  It's hard to
know when you just read the finished writing
how fast or slow people are.  I'm slow.
Sometimes I have breakthroughs though.

Last edited by John E. Franklin (2008-01-31 14:10:56)

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igloo myrtilles fourmis

LuisRodg

Real Member

Registered: 2007-10-23

Posts: 322

Re: trouble answering this question

Oh its no problem. I was just very confused because I post my answer and then I see this big answer which I thought you were trying to prove me wrong or something hehe.