Calculate Scale

Free interactive math game: Calculate Scale — What scale?. Part of the Scale & Map category on MathKite.

Example problems

Taken from the generator that powers this exercise. A fresh set appears every time the page is opened, and the printable worksheet holds ten of them.

  1. On a map, a distance of 4 cm corresponds to 4 m in real life. What is the scale?
  2. On a map, a distance of 8 cm corresponds to 800 m in real life. What is the scale?
  3. On a map, a distance of 10 cm corresponds to 10000 m in real life. What is the scale?
  4. On a map, a distance of 8 cm corresponds to 8 m in real life. What is the scale?

About this exercise

Working out the scale of a plan from a real length and a drawn one.

How to solve it

Convert both lengths to the same unit, then divide the real length by the drawn length.

Worked example

5 cm standing for 250 m, which is 25000 cm, gives a scale of 1 to 5000.

Common mistake

Dividing before converting. Centimeters against meters gives a scale a hundred times off.