Question

Note: Enter your answer and show all the steps that you use to solve this problem in the space provided.

The distance between Milltown and Summerville is 3.5 inches on a map. If the map scale is 1 inch = 20 miles, what is the actual distance between the towns?

Answer 1

Use a proportion, with the map scale as one fraction, and the other fraction having the unknown quantity (which is the actual distance).
We will represent the unknown quantity using the variable "d" but you can use "x" as well.

Proportion:
1/20 = 3.5/x

Solve using cross-products:
1x = 20 * 3.5
x = 70

Or the shortcut:
x = 20 * 3.5 / 1 = 70

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Revision: the variable I used was "x" but I meant to use "d"

Sorry for the confusion