Final answer:
To find the actual distance between the towns, use the scale on the map to convert the distance on the map to real life. In this case, the actual distance between the towns is 35 kilometers.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the actual distance between the towns, we need to use the scale on the map. The scale tells us how many centimeters on the map represent a certain distance in real life. In this case, the scale is 500000:1, which means that 1 centimeter on the map represents 500000 centimeters in real life.
Since the towns are 7 centimeters apart on the map, we can multiply 7 by the scale factor (500000) to find the actual distance. 7 * 500000 = 3500000 centimeters. However, we want to convert this distance to kilometers, so we divide by 100000 (since there are 100000 centimeters in a kilometer). 3500000 / 100000 = 35 kilometers.
Therefore, the actual distance between the towns is 35 kilometers.