Scale Drawings & Maps

Lengths, areas and volumes

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• A scale of 1 : n means real lengths are n times the drawn ones.
• Scale lengths by $k$: areas scale by $k^2$, volumes by $k^3$.
• This square–cube law limits how big animals and structures can grow.

Steps

1. Scale factors
2. Reading a map
3. Scaling areas
4. Model paint
5. Volumes scale by the cube
6. A giant’s weight