the distance between north bay and sudbury is about 125km. If they are 10 cm apart on a road map, what is the map scale?

set up the ratio

125 km : 10 cm
= 12.5 km : 1 cm

so 1 cm on your map is 12.5 km in the real world.

BTW, hello from a fellow Ontarian.

To determine the map scale, we need to compare the distance on the map (10 cm) to the actual distance on the ground (125 km). The map scale represents the ratio of the map distance to the actual distance.

In this case, we can set up a proportion to find the map scale:

Map distance / Actual distance = Map scale

Since the actual distance is 125 km and the map distance is 10 cm, we have:

10 cm / 125 km = Map scale

Now, let's convert the units to the same system. We can convert 125 km to cm by multiplying it by 100,000 (since 1 km = 100,000 cm):

10 cm / (125 km * 100,000 cm/km) = Map scale

Simplifying the equation:

10 cm / 12,500,000 cm = Map scale

Now, divide the numerator by the denominator:

Map scale = 0.0000008

Therefore, the map scale is 1:0.0000008 or 1 cm on the map represents 0.0000008 cm in reality.