Question

The area of the Mojave desert is 25000 square miles a scale drawing of the desert has an area of 10suare inches. What is the scale of the map

Answer 1

Actual area of the Mojave desert is 25,000 square miles and the scale drawing has an area of 10 square inches.

Suppose, the scale of the map is: 1 inch = miles

So, 1 square inches = x² square miles

10 square inches = 10² square miles

Hence, the equation will be

$10x^2=25000$

Divide both sides by 10

$\begin{gathered} \frac{10x^2}{10}=\frac{25000}{10} \\ x^2=2500 \end{gathered}$

Square-rooting both sides

$\begin{gathered} \sqrt[]{x^2}=\sqrt[]{2500} \\ x=50 \end{gathered}$

Thus, the scale of the map will be: 1 inch = 50 miles.