Where does this come from, and can I check it?

A sphere cannot be flattened without stretching something, so mapmakers choose which error to accept. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a world geography fact?

Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Every flat map distorts area, shape or distance

A sphere cannot be flattened without stretching something, so mapmakers choose which error to accept This is proved by Gauss's theorem on the curvature of surfaces, which rules out a perfect flat representation. Equal-area maps preserve size but mangle outline, while conformal maps do the reverse. Compromise projections such as Robinson and Winkel Tripel split the distortion across several properties. It sits in Mondo's world geography collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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World Geography trivia Science trivia

More facts like this

The Peters projection trades shape for accurate areaIt keeps relative sizes honest but makes continents long and thin, and it is widely criticised The Mercator projection inflates the poles enormouslyOn this map Greenland looks as large as Africa, though Africa is about fourteen times bigger Map scale is a ratio, not a rulerA scale of 1 to 50,000 means one centimetre on paper covers half a kilometre on the ground Contour lines join points of equal heightWhere the lines crowd together the ground is steep, and where they spread out it is gentle There are three different kinds of northTrue north, magnetic north and grid north point in different directions depending on where you stand Mercator's projection stretched the globe to help navigatorsThe 1569 map kept compass bearings straight at the cost of exaggerated poles

Tags: maps, projections, cartography

Every flat map distorts area, shape or distance: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: A sphere cannot be flattened without stretching something, so mapmakers choose which error to accept. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a world geography fact?: Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.