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Revision as of 23:07, 7 August 2012
Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki! We currently have 12 comic explanations. 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 and Wyoming is the smallest. The joke is that the comic purports to "be more fair", but there's nothing fair or unfair about sizing states by alphabetical order. Whether or not it is 'fair' in the first place to have states being shown as bigger or smaller merely because of raw geographical fact (and perhaps a little bit of cartographic bias).
Wyoming shrank the most proportionally in geographical size, while Delaware grew the most. Compared to a ranking of US states by area, Texas dropped the most (41 places), while Delaware and Connecticut rose the most (also 41 places). South Carolina and Vermont did not change rank.
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 Wyoming appears last on the alphabetical list of states.
Bias resulting from alphabetical order was also the topic of 2789: Making Plans.
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. The map strikes a balance between actually making the sizes of the states correspond to their alphabetical order, keeping the shapes of the states correct, and making the "lower 48" states fit together contiguously. The shapes of many states are significantly warped, such as Maryland, Delaware, and New York (which is lacking Long Island).
The table below ranks the states according to their actual size, their alphabetical order, and their approximate size as they are drawn in the comic.
Table of states
State | Real Life | Listings | Actual Sizes in the Comic (Approximate) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Area | % of the US |
Area ranking |
Alphabetic ranking |
Ranking adjustment |
Area (pixels) |
% of total |
Comic ranking | ||
sq mi | km2 | ||||||||
Alaska | 665,384 | 1,723,337 | 17.53% | 1 | 2 | 1 ▼ | 27329 | 4.26% | 5 |
Texas | 268,596 | 695,662 | 7.07% | 2 | 43 | 41 ▼ | 3122 | 0.487% | 44 |
California | 163,695 | 423,970 | 4.31% | 3 | 5 | 2 ▼ | 25285 | 3.94% | 6 |
Montana | 147,040 | 380,800 | 3.87% | 4 | 26 | 22 ▼ | 13781 | 2.15% | 24 |
New Mexico | 121,590 | 314,915 | 3.20% | 5 | 31 | 26 ▼ | 9768 | 1.52% | 29 |
Arizona | 113,990 | 295,254 | 3.00% | 6 | 3 | 3 ▲ | 29710 | 4.63% | 3 |
Nevada | 110,572 | 286,382 | 2.91% | 7 | 28 | 21 ▼ | 10754 | 1.68% | 26 |
Colorado | 104,094 | 269,601 | 2.74% | 8 | 6 | 2 ▲ | 27929 | 4.35% | 4 |
Oregon | 98,379 | 254,806 | 2.59% | 9 | 37 | 28 ▼ | 6959 | 1.09% | 36 |
Wyoming | 97,813 | 253,335 | 2.58% | 10 | 50 | 40 ▼ | 383 | 0.0597% | 50 |
Michigan | 96,714 | 250,493 | 2.55% | 11 | 22 | 11 ▼ | 10150 | 1.58% | 27 |
Minnesota | 86,936 | 225,163 | 2.29% | 12 | 23 | 11 ▼ | 15491 | 2.42% | 20 |
Utah | 84,897 | 219,882 | 2.24% | 13 | 44 | 31 ▼ | 5035 | 0.785% | 38 |
Idaho | 83,569 | 216,443 | 2.20% | 14 | 12 | 2 ▲ | 11253 | 1.75% | 25 |
Kansas | 82,278 | 213,100 | 2.17% | 15 | 16 | 1 ▼ | 14515 | 2.26% | 22 |
Nebraska | 77,348 | 200,330 | 2.04% | 16 | 27 | 11 ▼ | 9632 | 1.50% | 30 |
South Dakota | 77,116 | 199,729 | 2.03% | 17 | 41 | 24 ▼ | 4087 | 0.637% | 42 |
Washington | 71,298 | 184,661 | 1.88% | 18 | 47 | 29 ▼ | 1687 | 0.263% | 47 |
North Dakota | 70,698 | 183,108 | 1.86% | 19 | 34 | 15 ▼ | 9797 | 1.53% | 28 |
Oklahoma | 69,899 | 181,037 | 1.841% | 20 | 36 | 16 ▼ | 7493 | 1.17% | 32 |
Missouri | 69,707 | 180,540 | 1.836% | 21 | 25 | 4 ▼ | 16016 | 2.50% | 17 |
Florida | 65,758 | 170,312 | 1.732% | 22 | 9 | 13 ▲ | 22794 | 3.55% | 8 |
Wisconsin | 65,496 | 169,635 | 1.725% | 23 | 49 | 26 ▼ | 1098 | 0.171% | 49 |
Georgia | 59,425 | 153,910 | 1.565% | 24 | 10 | 14 ▲ | 20650 | 3.22% | 9 |
Illinois | 57,914 | 149,995 | 1.525% | 25 | 13 | 12 ▲ | 19537 | 3.05% | 10 |
Iowa | 56,273 | 145,746 | 1.482% | 26 | 15 | 11 ▲ | 16925 | 2.64% | 15 |
New York | 54,555 | 141,297 | 1.437% | 27 | 32 | 5 ▼ | 7402 | 1.15% | 34 |
North Carolina | 53,819 | 139,391 | 1.418% | 28 | 33 | 5 ▼ | 6982 | 1.09% | 35 |
Arkansas | 53,179 | 137,732 | 1.401% | 29 | 4 | 25 ▲ | 31942 | 4.98% | 2 |
Alabama | 52,420 | 135,767 | 1.381% | 30 | 1 | 29 ▲ | 34207 | 5.33% | 1 |
Louisiana | 52,378 | 135,659 | 1.380% | 31 | 18 | 13 ▲ | 15720 | 2.45% | 18 |
Mississippi | 48,432 | 125,438 | 1.276% | 32 | 24 | 8 ▲ | 16412 | 2.56% | 16 |
Pennsylvania | 46,054 | 119,280 | 1.213% | 33 | 38 | 5 ▼ | 6025 | 0.939% | 37 |
Ohio | 44,826 | 116,098 | 1.181% | 34 | 35 | 1 ▼ | 4865 | 0.759% | 39 |
Virginia | 42,775 | 110,787 | 1.127% | 35 | 46 | 11 ▼ | 1863 | 0.290% | 46 |
Tennessee | 42,144 | 109,153 | 1.110% | 36 | 42 | 6 ▼ | 4588 | 0.715% | 40 |
Kentucky | 40,408 | 104,656 | 1.064% | 37 | 17 | 20 ▲ | 18557 | 2.89% | 12 |
Indiana | 36,420 | 94,326 | 0.959% | 38 | 14 | 24 ▲ | 15719 | 2.45% | 19 |
Maine | 35,380 | 91,633 | 0.932% | 39 | 19 | 20 ▲ | 16950 | 2.64% | 14 |
South Carolina | 32,020 | 82,933 | 0.843% | 40 | 40 | 0 ◀ | 4482 | 0.699% | 41 |
West Virginia | 24,230 | 62,756 | 0.638% | 41 | 48 | 7 ▼ | 1136 | 0.177% | 48 |
Maryland | 12,406 | 32,131 | 0.327% | 42 | 20 | 22 ▲ | 13811 | 2.15% | 23 |
Hawaii | 10,932 | 28,313 | 0.288% | 43 | 11 | 32 ▲ | 15000 | 2.34% | 21 |
Massachusetts | 10,554 | 27,336 | 0.278% | 44 | 21 | 23 ▲ | 17734 | 2.77% | 13 |
Vermont | 9,616 | 24,906 | 0.253% | 45 | 45 | 0 ◀ | 2554 | 0.398% | 45 |
New Hampshire | 9,349 | 24,214 | 0.246% | 46 | 29 | 17 ▲ | 8994 | 1.40% | 31 |
New Jersey | 8,723 | 22,591 | 0.230% | 47 | 30 | 17 ▲ | 7432 | 1.16% | 33 |
Connecticut | 5,543 | 14,357 | 0.146% | 48 | 7 | 41 ▲ | 24549 | 3.83% | 7 |
Delaware | 2,489 | 6,446 | 0.066% | 49 | 8 | 41 ▲ | 19332 | 3.01% | 11 |
Rhode Island | 1,545 | 4,001 | 0.041% | 50 | 39 | 11 ▲ | 3950 | 0.616% | 43 |
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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