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== Latest comic == | == Latest comic == |
Revision as of 13:28, 12 October 2012
Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki! We already have 12 comic explanations!
(But there are still 2915 to go. Come and add yours!)
Latest comic
Alphabetical Cartogram |
Title text: Poor Weeoming. |
Explanation
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a SUSPICIOUSLY SMALLER-THAN-USUAL BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. |
This comic shows a map of the United States, with every state resized based on where it appears in an alphabetical list of states. Hence Alabama is the largest state, Wyoming is the smallest.
Wyoming shrank the most, while Delaware grew the largest proportionally in geographical size. In the ranking of US states by area, Texas's position dropped the most (41 places), while Delaware and Connecticut's positions rose the most (also 41 places).
This coincides with a recent study from the University of Michigan showing that the alphabetical order of surnames leads to differences in grading.
The title text creates a portmanteau of the words “wee,” which means “little,” and “Wyoming,” making fun of how small it is on this map, since "W" appears near the end of the alphabet.
Bias resulting from alphabetical order was also the topic of 2789: Making Plans.
Table of states
State | Real Life | Listings | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Area | % of the US |
Area ranking |
Alphabetic ranking |
Ranking adjustment | ||
sq mi | km2 | |||||
Alaska | 665,384 | 1,723,337 | 17.53% | 1 | 2 | 1 ▼ |
Texas | 268,596 | 695,662 | 7.07% | 2 | 43 | 41 ▼ |
California | 163,695 | 423,970 | 4.31% | 3 | 5 | 2 ▼ |
Montana | 147,040 | 380,800 | 3.87% | 4 | 26 | 22 ▼ |
New Mexico | 121,590 | 314,915 | 3.20% | 5 | 31 | 26 ▼ |
Arizona | 113,990 | 295,254 | 3.00% | 6 | 3 | 3 ▲ |
Nevada | 110,572 | 286,382 | 2.91% | 7 | 28 | 21 ▼ |
Colorado | 104,094 | 269,601 | 2.74% | 8 | 6 | 2 ▲ |
Oregon | 98,379 | 254,806 | 2.59% | 9 | 37 | 28 ▼ |
Wyoming | 97,813 | 253,335 | 2.58% | 10 | 50 | 40 ▼ |
Michigan | 96,714 | 250,493 | 2.55% | 11 | 22 | 11 ▼ |
Minnesota | 86,936 | 225,163 | 2.29% | 12 | 23 | 11 ▼ |
Utah | 84,897 | 219,882 | 2.24% | 13 | 44 | 31 ▼ |
Idaho | 83,569 | 216,443 | 2.20% | 14 | 12 | 2 ▲ |
Kansas | 82,278 | 213,100 | 2.17% | 15 | 16 | 1 ▼ |
Nebraska | 77,348 | 200,330 | 2.04% | 16 | 27 | 11 ▼ |
South Dakota | 77,116 | 199,729 | 2.03% | 17 | 41 | 24 ▼ |
Washington | 71,298 | 184,661 | 1.88% | 18 | 47 | 29 ▼ |
North Dakota | 70,698 | 183,108 | 1.86% | 19 | 34 | 15 ▼ |
Oklahoma | 69,899 | 181,037 | 1.841% | 20 | 36 | 16 ▼ |
Missouri | 69,707 | 180,540 | 1.836% | 21 | 25 | 4 ▼ |
Florida | 65,758 | 170,312 | 1.732% | 22 | 9 | 13 ▲ |
Wisconsin | 65,496 | 169,635 | 1.725% | 23 | 49 | 26 ▼ |
Georgia | 59,425 | 153,910 | 1.565% | 24 | 10 | 14 ▲ |
Illinois | 57,914 | 149,995 | 1.525% | 25 | 13 | 12 ▲ |
Iowa | 56,273 | 145,746 | 1.482% | 26 | 15 | 11 ▲ |
New York | 54,555 | 141,297 | 1.437% | 27 | 32 | 5 ▼ |
North Carolina | 53,819 | 139,391 | 1.418% | 28 | 33 | 5 ▼ |
Arkansas | 53,179 | 137,732 | 1.401% | 29 | 4 | 25 ▲ |
Alabama | 52,420 | 135,767 | 1.381% | 30 | 1 | 29 ▲ |
Louisiana | 52,378 | 135,659 | 1.380% | 31 | 18 | 13 ▲ |
Mississippi | 48,432 | 125,438 | 1.276% | 32 | 24 | 8 ▲ |
Pennsylvania | 46,054 | 119,280 | 1.213% | 33 | 38 | 5 ▼ |
Ohio | 44,826 | 116,098 | 1.181% | 34 | 35 | 1 ▼ |
Virginia | 42,775 | 110,787 | 1.127% | 35 | 46 | 11 ▼ |
Tennessee | 42,144 | 109,153 | 1.110% | 36 | 42 | 6 ▼ |
Kentucky | 40,408 | 104,656 | 1.064% | 37 | 17 | 20 ▲ |
Indiana | 36,420 | 94,326 | 0.959% | 38 | 14 | 24 ▲ |
Maine | 35,380 | 91,633 | 0.932% | 39 | 19 | 20 ▲ |
South Carolina | 32,020 | 82,933 | 0.843% | 40 | 40 | 0 ◀ |
West Virginia | 24,230 | 62,756 | 0.638% | 41 | 48 | 7 ▼ |
Maryland | 12,406 | 32,131 | 0.327% | 42 | 20 | 22 ▲ |
Hawaii | 10,932 | 28,313 | 0.288% | 43 | 11 | 32 ▲ |
Massachusetts | 10,554 | 27,336 | 0.278% | 44 | 21 | 23 ▲ |
Vermont | 9,616 | 24,906 | 0.253% | 45 | 45 | 0 ◀ |
New Hampshire | 9,349 | 24,214 | 0.246% | 46 | 29 | 17 ▲ |
New Jersey | 8,723 | 22,591 | 0.230% | 47 | 30 | 17 ▲ |
Connecticut | 5,543 | 14,357 | 0.146% | 48 | 7 | 41 ▲ |
Delaware | 2,489 | 6,446 | 0.066% | 49 | 8 | 41 ▲ |
Rhode Island | 1,545 | 4,001 | 0.041% | 50 | 39 | 11 ▲ |
It should be noted that the resizing is not done perfectly in the drawing. For example, Vermont appears slightly larger than Texas, and Idaho appears smaller than Missouri.
Transcript
This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks. |
- A More Fair Map
- Instead of giving more area to larger states, this map improves fairness by sizing the states alphabetically.
- [A labeled map of the United States where states are resized based on their alphabetical order]
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