On the fictional practice map, Oak and Willow lie on the same horizontal grid line. Willow is four squares to the right of Oak. North is at the top and each square represents 1 km. What is the direction and straight-line distance from Oak to Willow?
Willow is 4 km east of Oak.
- Read direction first
The north arrow points towards the top of the map. East is therefore to the right. From Oak to Willow you move right.
- Use the map scale
The towns are four full grid intervals apart. Each interval represents 1 km.
\(d=4\times1\,\text{km}=4\,\text{km}\)
- State what the result means
The answer is a straight-line distance. A real route could be longer if roads curved or required a detour.
Going back from Willow to Oak would be 4 km west. The distance is unchanged, but the direction reverses.