AP Human Geography : Rank-Size Rule

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Human Geography

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Models Of Urban Hierarchies

According to the rank-size rule, if the largest city in a country has a population of 1,000,000, then the fourth largest city in that country would have a population of approximately __________.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The rank size rule states that the  largest city in a given country will have  of the population of the largest city in that country. If the largest city has a population 1,000,000, and we want to know the population of the fourth largest city, it will have  of the population of the largest city.  of 1,000,000 is 250,000 people.

Example Question #1 : Models Of Urban Hierarchies

The rank-size rule is related to the size of which of the following answer choices?

Possible Answers:

Cities

Ethnic populations within cities

Urban neighborhoods

The income-level of the different populations within cities

All of these

Correct answer:

Cities

Explanation:

The “rank-size rule” is related to the relative size of cities. According to the rank-size rule, there should be a larger number of small cities than bigger cities. Also, this rule predicts that the larger a city’s population is then the fewer number of cities there should be in the surrounding area with a similar population.

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