Scales

These scales above and below could mean that every 1cm on the map is 1km in real life

Example 1: On the map I measure 3.5cm, how long is that in real life?

Step 1: The ratio is 1 : 100 000 , so I multiply 100 000 by 3.5
100 000 x 3.5 = 350 000

Step 2: 350 000cm doesn't really make much sense (who measures that far in cm!) so we'll convert it to a bigger unit

Example 2: On a map the scale is 1: 5000, if I measure 12mm how long is that in real life?

Step 1: The ratio is 1 : 5000 , so I multiply 5000 by 12
5000 x 12 = 60 000

Step 2: 60 000mm doesn't really make much sense (who measures that far in mm!) so we'll convert it to a bigger unit
(For this type of question, it's usually small unit into big unit)

Example 3: If the length on the drawing is 12cm and the length in real life is 240km, what is the scale?

Step 1: cm and km don't mix! So I have to turn my km into cm
(For this type of question, it's always big unit into small unit)

Step 2: We put our new values into the calculator as a fraction