On the map Greenland looks bigger than India
On the map Greenland looks bigger than India. Aarav says so Greenland is a bigger country than India. Can map size alone tell us this for sure?
Who do you think is right? Pick one.
The answer: No — maps distort size
Why
Aarav is trusting the map, which is usually sensible — bigger-on-paper often does mean bigger. The problem is what a flat map is DOING. The Earth is a ball, and you can't flatten a ball onto paper without stretching parts of it — the same reason orange peel tears and spreads when you press it flat. That stretching is worst near the top and bottom, so places far from the equator, like Greenland, get blown up far larger than they really are. India sits nearer the middle and is stretched much less. So on this common map Greenland LOOKS huge, but on a globe India is bigger. Test: peel an orange and press the peel flat — the pieces spread out wider than they sat on the ball. Maps distort size: a flat map can't be trusted for true area — a globe or the real numbers can.
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