Editing 2927: Alphabetical Cartogram

{{comic
| number    = 2927
| date      = May 1, 2024
| title     = Alphabetical Cartogram
| image     = alphabetical_cartogram_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x548px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Poor Weeoming.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|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 {{w|United States}}, with every state resized based on where it appears in an alphabetical list of states. Hence {{w|Alabama}} is the largest state, {{w|Wyoming}} is the smallest.

Wyoming shrank the most, while {{w|Delaware}} grew the largest proportionally in geographical size. In the ranking of US states {{w|List of U.S. states and territories by area|by area}}, {{w|Texas}}'s position dropped the most (41 places), while Delaware and {{w|Connecticut}}'s positions rose the most (also 41 places).

This coincides with a recent [https://record.umich.edu/articles/study-alphabetical-order-of-surnames-may-affect-grading/ 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===

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;"
! rowspan="3" | State                        <!-- column 1    -->
! colspan="4" | Real Life                    <!-- columns 2-5 -->
! colspan="2" | Listings                     <!-- columns 6,7 -->
! colspan="3" | Actual Sizes<br>in the Comic <!-- columns 8-10 -->
|-
                                        <!-- column 1    -->
! colspan="2" | Total Area              <!-- columns 2,3 -->
! rowspan="2" | % of the<br/>US         <!-- column 4    -->
! rowspan="2" | Area<br/>ranking        <!-- column 5    -->
! rowspan="2" | Alphabetic<br/>ranking  <!-- column 6    -->
! rowspan="2" | Ranking<br/>adjustment  <!-- column 7    -->
! rowspan="2" | Area<br/>(pixels)       <!-- column 8    -->
! rowspan="2" | % of<br/>total          <!-- column 9    -->
! rowspan="2" | Comic<br/>ranking       <!-- column 10    -->
|-
                                        <!-- column 1     -->
! style="width:3.5em" | sq mi           <!-- column 2     -->
! style="width:3.5em" | km<sup>2</sup>  <!-- column 3     -->
                                        <!-- columns 4..7 -->
                                        <!-- columns 8..10 -->
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Alaska        ||665,384||1,723,337||17.53% || 1|| 2||data-sort-value= "+1" style="background-color:#FDD"| 1 &#9660; ||27329||4.26%||5
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Texas         ||268,596||  695,662|| 7.07% || 2||43||data-sort-value="+41" style="background-color:#F00"|41 &#9660; ||3122||0.487%||44
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|California    ||163,695||  423,970|| 4.31% || 3|| 5||data-sort-value= "+2" style="background-color:#FDD"| 2 &#9660; ||25285||3.94%||6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Montana       ||147,040||  380,800|| 3.87% || 4||26||data-sort-value="+22" style="background-color:#F66"|22 &#9660; ||13781||2.15%||24
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|New Mexico    ||121,590||  314,915|| 3.20% || 5||31||data-sort-value="+26" style="background-color:#F55"|26 &#9660; ||9768||1.52%||29
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Arizona       ||113,990||  295,254|| 3.00% || 6|| 3||data-sort-value= "-3" style="background-color:#DFD"| 3 &#9650; ||29710||4.63%||3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Nevada        ||110,572||  286,382|| 2.91% || 7||28||data-sort-value="+21" style="background-color:#F77"|21 &#9660; ||10754||1.68%||26
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Colorado      ||104,094||  269,601|| 2.74% || 8|| 6||data-sort-value= "-2" style="background-color:#DFD"| 2 &#9650; ||27929||4.35%||4
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Oregon        || 98,379||  254,806|| 2.59% || 9||37||data-sort-value="+28" style="background-color:#F44"|28 &#9660; ||6959||1.09%||36
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Wyoming       || 97,813||  253,335|| 2.58% ||10||50||data-sort-value="+40" style="background-color:#F00"|40 &#9660; ||383||0.0597%||50
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Michigan      || 96,714||  250,493|| 2.55% ||11||22||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#FAA"|11 &#9660; ||10150||1.58%||27
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Minnesota     || 86,936||  225,163|| 2.29% ||12||23||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#FAA"|11 &#9660; ||15491||2.42%||20
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Utah          || 84,897||  219,882|| 2.24% ||13||44||data-sort-value="+31" style="background-color:#F33"|31 &#9660; ||5035||0.785%||38
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Idaho         || 83,569||  216,443|| 2.20% ||14||12||data-sort-value= "-2" style="background-color:#DFD"| 2 &#9650; ||11253||1.75%||25
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Kansas        || 82,278||  213,100|| 2.17% ||15||16||data-sort-value= "+1" style="background-color:#FDD"| 1 &#9660; ||14515||2.26%||22
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Nebraska      || 77,348||  200,330|| 2.04% ||16||27||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#FAA"|11 &#9660; ||9632||1.50%||30
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|South Dakota  || 77,116||  199,729|| 2.03% ||17||41||data-sort-value="+24" style="background-color:#F66"|24 &#9660; ||4087||0.637%||42
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Washington    || 71,298||  184,661|| 1.88% ||18||47||data-sort-value="+29" style="background-color:#F44"|29 &#9660; ||1687||0.263%||47
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|North Dakota  || 70,698||  183,108|| 1.86% ||19||34||data-sort-value="+15" style="background-color:#F99"|15 &#9660; ||9797||1.53%||28
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Oklahoma      || 69,899||  181,037|| 1.841%||20||36||data-sort-value="+16" style="background-color:#F88"|16 &#9660; ||7493||1.17%||32
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Missouri      || 69,707||  180,540||1.836%||21||25||data-sort-value= "+4" style="background-color:#FCC"| 4 &#9660; ||16016||2.50%||17
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Florida       || 65,758||  170,312|| 1.732%||22|| 9||data-sort-value="-13" style="background-color:#9F9"|13 &#9650; ||22794||3.55%||8
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Wisconsin     || 65,496||  169,635|| 1.725%||23||49||data-sort-value="+26" style="background-color:#F55"|26 &#9660; ||1098||0.171%||49
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Georgia       || 59,425||  153,910|| 1.565%||24||10||data-sort-value="-14" style="background-color:#9F9"|14 &#9650; ||20650||3.22%||9
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Illinois      || 57,914||  149,995|| 1.525%||25||13||data-sort-value="-12" style="background-color:#AFA"|12 &#9650; ||19537||3.05%||10
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Iowa          || 56,273||  145,746|| 1.482%||26||15||data-sort-value="-11" style="background-color:#AFA"|11 &#9650; ||16925||2.64%||15
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|New York      || 54,555||  141,297|| 1.437%||27||32||data-sort-value= "+5" style="background-color:#FCC"| 5 &#9660; ||7402||1.15%||34
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|North Carolina|| 53,819||  139,391|| 1.418%||28||33||data-sort-value= "+5" style="background-color:#FCC"| 5 &#9660; ||6982||1.09%||35
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Arkansas      || 53,179||  137,732|| 1.401%||29|| 4||data-sort-value="-25" style="background-color:#5F5"|25 &#9650; ||31942||4.98%||2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Alabama       || 52,420||  135,767|| 1.381%||30|| 1||data-sort-value="-29" style="background-color:#4F4"|29 &#9650; ||34207||5.33%||1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Louisiana     || 52,378||  135,659|| 1.380%||31||18||data-sort-value="-13" style="background-color:#9F9"|13 &#9650; ||15720||2.45%||18
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Mississippi   || 48,432||  125,438|| 1.276%||32||24||data-sort-value= "-8" style="background-color:#BFB"| 8 &#9650; ||16412||2.56%||16
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Pennsylvania  || 46,054||  119,280|| 1.213%||33||38||data-sort-value= "+5" style="background-color:#FCC"| 5 &#9660; ||6025||0.939%||37
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Ohio          || 44,826||  116,098|| 1.181%||34||35||data-sort-value= "+1" style="background-color:#FDD"| 1 &#9660; ||4865||0.759%||39
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Virginia      || 42,775||  110,787|| 1.127%||35||46||data-sort-value="+11" style="background-color:#FAA"|11 &#9660; ||1863||0.290%||46
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Tennessee     || 42,144||  109,153|| 1.110%||36||42||data-sort-value= "+6" style="background-color:#FCC"| 6 &#9660; ||4588||0.715%||40
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Kentucky      || 40,408||  104,656|| 1.064%||37||17||data-sort-value="-20" style="background-color:#7F7"|20 &#9650; ||18557||2.89%||12
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Indiana       || 36,420||   94,326|| 0.959%||38||14||data-sort-value="-24" style="background-color:#6F6"|24 &#9650; ||15719||2.45%||19
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Maine         || 35,380||   91,633|| 0.932%||39||19||data-sort-value="-20" style="background-color:#7F7"|20 &#9650; ||16950||2.64%||14
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|South Carolina|| 32,020||   82,933|| 0.843%||40||40||data-sort-value=  "0" style="background-color:#FFD"| 0 &#9664; ||4482||0.699%||41
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|West Virginia || 24,230||   62,756|| 0.638%||41||48||data-sort-value= "+7" style="background-color:#FBB"| 7 &#9660; ||1136||0.177%||48
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Maryland      || 12,406||   32,131|| 0.327%||42||20||data-sort-value="-22" style="background-color:#6F6"|22 &#9650; ||13811||2.15%||23
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Hawaii        || 10,932||   28,313|| 0.288%||43||11||data-sort-value="-32" style="background-color:#3F3"|32 &#9650; ||15000||2.34%||21
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Massachusetts || 10,554||   27,336|| 0.278%||44||21||data-sort-value="-23" style="background-color:#6F6"|23 &#9650; ||17734||2.77%||13
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Vermont       ||  9,616||   24,906|| 0.253%||45||45||data-sort-value="  0" style="background-color:#FFD"| 0 &#9664; ||2554||0.398%||45
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|New Hampshire ||  9,349||   24,214|| 0.246%||46||29||data-sort-value="-17" style="background-color:#8F8"|17 &#9650; ||8994||1.40%||31
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|New Jersey    ||  8,723||   22,591|| 0.230%||47||30||data-sort-value="-17" style="background-color:#8F8"|17 &#9650; ||7432||1.16%||33
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Connecticut   ||  5,543||   14,357|| 0.146%||48|| 7||data-sort-value="-41" style="background-color:#0F0"|41 &#9650; ||24549||3.83%||7
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Delaware      ||  2,489||    6,446|| 0.066%||49|| 8||data-sort-value="-41" style="background-color:#0F0"|41 &#9650; ||19332||3.01%||11
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Rhode Island  ||  1,545||    4,001|| 0.041%||50||39||data-sort-value="-11" style="background-color:#AFA"|11 &#9650; ||3950||0.616%||43
|}

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==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
: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]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]