Editing 2439: Solar System Cartogram
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
In this comic, [[Randall]] has made a {{w|cartogram}} showing the planets in the {{w|solar system}}. Cartograms are a type of map in which geographic area is displayed proportionately to some secondary characteristic - in this case, population. From the title text it is clear that the population in question is human (persons) (but even if all life forms where counted it it wouldn't matter, since the only confirmed life in the Solar System is on Earth). Thus the other planets have a population of 0 and are shown as nothing more than dots. | In this comic, [[Randall]] has made a {{w|cartogram}} showing the planets in the {{w|solar system}}. Cartograms are a type of map in which geographic area is displayed proportionately to some secondary characteristic - in this case, population. From the title text it is clear that the population in question is human (persons) (but even if all life forms where counted it it wouldn't matter, since the only confirmed life in the Solar System is on Earth). Thus the other planets have a population of 0 and are shown as nothing more than dots. | ||
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| + | This comic is a joke about cartograms, which are used, for instance, to show electoral representation. A standard {{w|United States Electoral College|American electoral map}} is very misleading. Though the split between the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, is about 50-50, most of the area of the U.S. map is shown in the color associated with the Republican Party, red. That's because many Democrats live in densely packed districts occupying little land area, while many Republicans live in rural districts with large land area but few people. This has led to the rise of electoral {{w|Cartogram|cartograms}} in which district areas are shown in proportion to population, correcting the misimpression that most of America is conservative. | ||
[[File:2016 presidential election electoral college cartogram.png|thumb|300px|Cartogram showing the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.]] | [[File:2016 presidential election electoral college cartogram.png|thumb|300px|Cartogram showing the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.]] | ||
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Solar system diagrams are likely also to be misleading. Illustrators are overwhelmingly forced to use a far more scaled-down spacing between planets, compared to their scaled sizes, even if they can (or care to) maintain consistency in the relative distances and/or radii on linear scales. (The huge factors of difference involved instead may lend themselves to being {{w|Solar_System_model#Scale_models_in_various_locations|physically modeled}} to better give some sense of the spacing and sizing differences.) Here, Randall has intentionally applied the wrong solution to the problem. | Solar system diagrams are likely also to be misleading. Illustrators are overwhelmingly forced to use a far more scaled-down spacing between planets, compared to their scaled sizes, even if they can (or care to) maintain consistency in the relative distances and/or radii on linear scales. (The huge factors of difference involved instead may lend themselves to being {{w|Solar_System_model#Scale_models_in_various_locations|physically modeled}} to better give some sense of the spacing and sizing differences.) Here, Randall has intentionally applied the wrong solution to the problem. | ||
