Culture and expanding

I have a culture of 434 (between my two towns). The culture numbers show I should have approximately 97 cells. I have counted my cells and only have 42. 

Am I counting cells incorrectly? I went to the world map and simply counted the number of cells surrounded by my borders.

I do have lots of neighbors but there is one edge of my area which is free so I am not sure why my territory did not expand in that direction. I know the number of cells our territory has is dependent on culture and number of neighbors, but I really have a lot less than the small variation I would have expected... 42 vs. 97.

Does anyone have any thoughts on why this might be? Am I doing something wrong?

Culture is not counted by adding the towns together. Each town has its own culture. You cannot add the total together to have a higher number of cells. It is affected by so many variables.

That is helpful to know. I have read most entries regarding culture and its affect on the amount of territory you have.  So I am trying to understand how it works.  I know that some buildings will lower your culture and others will raise it. 

So if you do not add the cultures of your towns together, then how would my territory size be arrived at?

I am not trying to be difficult or argumentative; I genuinely wish to understand this aspect of the game.

So one of my towns has a culture of  305 which if it were my only town should translate to a territory of approximately 61 squares. (This is according to a list posted in the forums about culture and territory size.) My second town has 129 culture which if it were my only town should translate to a territory of approximately 29 squares. My territory is only 42 squares. So by adding a town, it appears as if I have decreased my territory significantly. 

I am confused about how territory size is arrived at.  I know - being surrounded by so many other kingdoms - I am limited in the ways my area can expand. But I do have one open area where I can expand - so I am not sure why I am not expanding in that direction.

I would love to hear from others about what they find influences their territory size.

towns only grow as a circle they do not go towards open areas. If your towns are close together then their territory overlaps.It looks like the screen shots are no longer available. They really helped to understand this.

Apologies if this was asked before, but I couldn't find an answer in this forum thread; on the world map, there are cells that can be claimed with culture, and I understand that mechanic. Can someone please explain what the resource (food/lumber/stone) values in each cell mean? 

I can see the forest and swamp increasing the number of their specific resource when I compare the cell resource value (x7 food, x4 lumber, x3 stone in the picture) to cells that are not next to special cells. What I do not understand is what those resource values mean. To my understanding, the resources for each town are generated by the forestry, garden, and stone fields in that town, so how do the cell resource multipliers take effect?

I can see the forest and swamp increasing the number of their specific resource when I compare the cell resource value (x7 food, x4 lumber, x3 stone in the picture) to cells that are not next to special cells. What I do not understand is what those resource values mean. To my understanding, the resources for each town are generated by the forestry, garden, and stone fields in that town, so how do the cell resource multipliers take effect?

Thos numbers indicate how many forestries/garden/stone fields would be in your town if you settle it in that cell.

I see, thank you for explaining!