The scale on a map is 1 : 50,000 - OCR - GCSE Maths - Question 11 - 2020 - Paper 1

To find out how many kilometres are represented by 8 cm on the map, we first need to understand the map scale. The scale of 1:50,000 means that 1 cm on the map corresponds to 50,000 cm on the ground.

So, to find the actual distance represented by 8 cm on the map, we can use the following calculation:

distance ext{ in cm} = ext{map length in cm} imes ext{scale factor} = 8 ext{ cm} imes 50,000 ext{ cm/cm} = 400,000 ext{ cm}

Next, we convert this distance from centimeters to kilometres since there are 100,000 cm in a kilometre:

distance ext{ in km} = rac{400,000 ext{ cm}}{100,000 ext{ cm/km}} = 4 ext{ km}

Thus, 8 cm on the map represents a distance of 4 km on the ground.