For a difficult words-in-context question, determine not only the general idea conveyed by the blank but also the mechanism emphasized by the surrounding details. Give particular weight to clues showing whether the relationship is incidental or systematic, and select the option whose meaning accounts for every such clue.
Hints
- Hint 1
Examine the consistency
Consider why the same proportional relationship appearing across maps by different surveyors matters.
- Hint 2
Focus on recoverable information
Ask what it means that a reader can reconstruct fiscal rank from differences in scale.
- Hint 3
Compare the verbs precisely
Distinguish among concealing something, making it seem acceptable, making it uniform, and representing it through a consistent system.
Step-by-step
- Step 1
Identify the relevant pattern
A district's mapped area changes according to its expected tax yield, and the same proportional rule appears across maps by different surveyors. The distortions therefore form a consistent system rather than merely expressing a general attitude.
- Step 2
Use the result of the pattern
The final clause says that a district's relative fiscal rank can be reconstructed from its map scale. Thus, the visual differences preserve information in a form that can be interpreted.
- Step 3
Choose the most precise verb
To “encode” information is to represent it through a system of signs or features. Because scale systematically represents fiscal rank, “encode” precisely describes the relationship; the maps neither conceal nor validate the priorities, and they do not make the priorities uniform.