Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How contour lines show a hill
A contour is a line of constant height, and crowded lines are the steep part of the hill.
When the purchase is complete, return to the original window. It will refresh.
From the opening
Contour lines show a hill by tracing curves of constant elevation on a flat map, each line a level walk at one height. The pattern is the shape of the hill, a ring inside a ring for a summit, and the spacing between rings is the steepness. The opening covers nested lines as a summit, spacing as the steepness, and why valley lines bend uphill.
The rest of the brief — the later sections and the reading notes — opens after Stripe confirms payment.
Inside
- Nested lines as a summit
- Spacing as the steepness
- Why valley lines bend uphill
- What the interval does to slope
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Contour lines as elevation isolines
- The contour interval as the scale of slope