The scale of a map is `1 : 5000000`. What is the actual distance between two towns. If they are 4 cm apart on the map?

Answer

To find the actual distance between two towns based on the map scale, we can follow these steps:

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understand the Scale of the Map**:
The scale given is 1 : 5,000,000. This means that 1 cm on the map represents 5,000,000 cm in reality.

2. **Convert the Scale to a More Usable Unit**:
Since we want to find the actual distance in kilometers, we first convert 5,000,000 cm to kilometers.
- We know that 1 kilometer = 100,000 cm.
- Therefore, to convert centimeters to kilometers, we divide by 100,000.
\[ \text{Actual distance represented by 1 cm} = \frac{5,000,000 \text{ cm}}{100,000} = 50 \text{ km} \]

3. **Calculate the Actual Distance for 4 cm on the Map**:
Now that we know that 1 cm on the map equals 50 km in reality, we can find the actual distance for the 4 cm measured on the map.
\[ \text{Actual distance} = 4 \text{ cm} \times 50 \text{ km/cm} = 200 \text{ km} \]

4. **Conclusion**:
The actual distance between the two towns is 200 kilometers.

### Final Answer:
The actual distance between the two towns is **200 kilometers**.