Geographical Techniques Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Circles, divided circles and spheres are used on maps to show the size of urban population, by drawing proportional circles, circles divided into parts or spheres whose volume is proportional. Hachures are short lines drawn in the direction of the slope to show relief, so they are not a technique for population. The answer is Hachures, option D.

Answer: C

The statement that is not correct is that the isopleth technique always takes administrative boundaries into account. Isopleths are lines of equal value, and contour maps are isopleth maps, and the technique suits continuous data, but isopleths are drawn from point values and ignore administrative boundaries, so the statement is false. The answer is C. For example a contour map joins points of equal height, and an isopleth map of rainfall joins points of equal rainfall, both drawn without regard to district or state limits.

Answer: C

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct, as the key gives: deserts, marshes and hilly tracts are the negative areas of population, the dot method is the best technique to show the distribution of population and the dot map cannot be transferred into an isopleth map. Statement 3 is not correct, since the dot method shows distribution and not the age and sex composition, which are shown by other devices such as population pyramids. So the answer is C.

Answer: A

The Lorenz curve is the most suitable way of showing inequality in a distribution: it plots the cumulative share of a variable, such as income or population, against the cumulative share of the units, and the more the curve bends away from the line of equality the greater the inequality. A bar graph compares values, a circle diagram shows proportions and isopleths show continuous distribution. The answer is Lorenz curve.

Answer: D

The geometric mean is the nth root of the product of the values, so if any value in the data set is zero the product is zero and the geometric mean is also zero. The set 0, 50, 100, 100, 150, 250, 450, 500 contains a zero, so the geometric mean is 0, option D, and the values 125, 100 and 200 are not the geometric mean of the data. This is a special property of the geometric mean, which is why it is not used with data that contain zeros, in contrast with the arithmetic mean, which would be 200 for the same set.