Final answer:
The Mercator projection is most accurate at the Equator and becomes increasingly distorted when moving away from the Equator toward the poles.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Mercator projection is most accurate at the Equator because shapes and distances are increasingly distorted when moving away from the Equator and toward the poles. This distortion occurs because the Mercator projection maps the world onto a cylinder, stretching out the higher latitudes. As a result, land masses near the poles appear much larger than they actually are on the map.