Coach Murray’s Steps to Learning Metric System Conversions (Continued)

Coach Murray’s Steps to Learning Metric System Conversions

Note: These instructions are for converting length, volume, and mass not temperature.

Notice: We are not converting from one base unit to another (i.e. length to mass or volume to length). In our conversions the base unit remains the same (i.e. length to length, mass to mass, and volume to volume).

Prefix (Pronounced) / kilo / hecto / deca / base unit / deci / centi / milli
Prefix (Abbreviated) / k / h / da / m, L, g / d / c / m
Mnemonic Device: / king / hector / doesn't / make / delicious / chocolate / milk
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Decimal Places: / 1000 / 100 / 10 / 0 / 0.01 / 0.001 / 0.0001

Converting numbers in the metric system is easy. For example say I give you this question that I want you to convert: 20kg = ______g ?

Before you start you have to ask 2 important questions….

1.  Which direction am I moving the decimal?

2.  How many places am I moving it?

Follow these 4 steps to learn how to convert……

1.  Look at the number in the question. Does it have a decimal in place? If not add a decimal to the question. (i.e. 20 becomes 20.0 when I add a decimal)

·  Try this with a different number say…. 524 Your answer ______

2.  Still looking at the question, now look at prefix and/or unit abbreviated to the right of the number (i.e. the prefix/unit in 20kg is kg).

·  Write the prefix/unit abbreviation of 34mm Your answer ______

·  Break down the prefix/unit abbreviation from our original question

·  If the prefix/unit is a single letter, you don’t have a prefix at all…you have a base unit.

i.  What are the base units again? m (meter), L (liter), g (gram)

ii. What do they measure:

1.  meter measures length (also distance & height)

2.  liter measures volume

3.  gram measures mass (note: this not the same as weight)

·  If the prefix/unit is two letters or more, you have a prefix and a base unit

i.  What are the prefixes: k h da baseunit d c m

ii. These stand for: kilo, hector, deca, baseunit, deci, centi, milli

3.  You are ready to convert. Determine your starting prefix and ending prefix. In our example of 20kg = ______g, we would start at kilo and end on the base unit of grams.

·  What direction do you move to get from kilo to the base unit of grams (left or right)? ______

·  How many places do you move the decimal in this example? ______

·  Since you already converted the question to a decimal go, draw the number of jumps (with a loop like design) in the correct direction. Pencil the decimal in darkly so you don’t get confused.

4.  Fill-in any zeros where necessary. Assuming you moved the decimal the correct number of spaces and in the correct direction. You are not finished though. In most cases you will need to clean-up your answer. You might to add or erase some zeros.

·  Zeros at the beginning of a number are placeholders (i.e. 000.05)

i.  A single zero to the left of the decimal is always proper

1.  change 000.05 to 0.05 (not .5)

·  Zeros at the end of a numbers are also placeholders (i.e. 500.000)

i.  A single zero to the far right of the decimal is correct but it looks better to leave it off

1.  change 500.00 to just 500.0…clean it up by removing the extra zero and decimal…..500

·  The correct answer to the example should be 20kg = 20,000g not 20,000.0

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