ShmoopTube

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Here’s your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Maps.

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Before Google Maps, we used to use ACTUAL maps.

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On a map, 1/3 of an inch represents 12 miles.

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What is the real-life distance of two cities that are 7 5/6 inches apart on the map?

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And here are the potential answers…

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This problem can be solved with a very simple unit conversion.

00:29

Uh…no. An even simpler unit conversion.

00:32

We’ll start with the 7 and 5/6 inches on the map we’re given.

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It’s much easier to solve this thing if we’ve got it in improper fraction form,

00:40

so we’ll change it up.

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7 is the same as 42/6… and 42/6 plus 5/6 equals 47/6. Done.

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Now, we can convert.

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When we convert between units, all we’re doing is multiplying by a fancy form of 1.

00:57

We multiply 47/6 inches by 12 miles per 1/3 inch.

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And we have, 12 divided by 1/3 is really just 12 times 3, so we have 47/6 times 36.

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We can divide the top and bottom by 6 to get 47 times 6, which is equal to 282.

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Our answer is (D).

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