|
The
metric & English systems
The metric system
is a decimal system using multiples or subdivisions of 10. All metric
measurements are derived from a single base unit, the meter for
the length; the gram for the weight; and the liter for the volume.One
meter is defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator
to the North Pole (a little more than a yard or the height from
the floor to the door knob); one gram is defined as the weight of
the water that filled a box of one cubic centi meter (about the
weight of a regular paper clip); and one liter is defined as the
volume of a box that is 10 cm on a side (a little more than a quart).The
advantages of the metric system can be seen when compared to the
English system, it's eliminating the difficult calculations simply
just moving around the decimal point. For example, in the English
system, one inch is one-twelfth of a foot and one foot is one-third
of a yard, there is no consistency in subdivision. In metric system,
prefixes are used to indicate multiplications or division by power
of ten. A complete list of the prefixes of the metric system is
shown in the table below.
|
Metric
Prefixes
|
| Prefix
multiple |
deci-(d)
.1 |
| exa
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 |
centi-(c)
.01 |
| peta
1,000,000,000,000,000 |
milli-(m).001 |
| tera
1,000,000,000,000 |
micro
.000001 |
| giga
1,000,000,000 |
nano
.000000001 |
| mega
1,000,000 |
pico
.0000000000001 |
| kilo-(k)
1,000 |
femto
.000000000001
|
| hecto-(h)
100 |
atto
.000000000000000001 |
| deka-(dk)
10 |
|
| standard
unit 1 |
|
In example1-
4, perform each conversion by multiplying or dividing by the appropriate
powers of 10.
Ex
1: Convert
5 m to millimeters
Sol:
Ex
2:Convert
32,176 m to kilomrters
Sol:
Ex
3: Convert
452 mg to grams
Sol:
Ex
4:Convert
941 cL to liters
Sol:
The
following table shows the approximately equivalent relation between
the metric system and the English system.
1
in  2,54
cm
|
1
cm0.394
in
|
1
yd0.914
m
|
1m1.09
yd
|
1m1.61
km
|
1
km0.621
mi
|
1
lb0.454
kg
|
1
kg2.20
lb
|
1
qt0.946
liter
|
1
liter1.06
qt
|
1
gallon 3.785
L
|
1
L 0.2642
gallon
|
In example 5
- 7, perform each conversion using the above table.
Ex 5:Convert
274 yd to meters.
Sol:
Ex
6:Convert
6182 g to pounds
Sol:
Ex
7:Convert
35.6 gal to liters
Sol:
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