Correct Answer - Option 4 : Ratio
Introduction of Rank-Size Rule:
- The theory of Rank-size rule which is related to the analysis of the urban system was propounded by Zipf explains that there is a specific relationship between the population size of settlements, their ranks, and the relative abundance of settlements.
- The rule states that the population of any given town should be inversely proportional to its rank in the country’s hierarchy of cities.
- Zipf’s general theory known as the rank-size rule was presented to explain the regularity regarding the population of a town and its rank in relation to the largest town which is assigned number 1 in the hierarchy.
- He formulated an equation after the thorough study of the 100 largest cities of the United States and their population of the year 1940.
Formula:
Pr = P1/r
Where
Pr = Population of a town of the rank in question
P1 = Population of the largest city
r = rank of town in question.
- Zipf’s rule states that if all towns in a region are arranged in descending order according to the size of the population then the population size of r town will be 1/r the size of the largest town.
- Thus, the second largest town will have ½ of the population of the largest town, the third-largest town will have 1/3rd, the 4th largest town 1/4th of the population of the largest town.
The rank of the cities is the ratio of the population of the largest city with the particular city. So, it is an example of a ration scale.
