How to Convert Metric and English or American measurements

Working with measurements means understanding the Metric systems of measurement and the American or Imperial system of measurements. Unit conversion within one system, or from one into the other, means the right factors have to be used and used correctly.

Things You'll Need

• List of conversion factors
• Calculator
• Pencil and paper

Instructions

1. Learn the units of measurement in the metric system, how to use them and how convert measurements. Of the two systems of measurement the metrics are the easier one to work with. The metrics are based on the unit ten, with each unit increasing by a multiple of 10 as the size increases. For length the basic units of measurement and their symbols are:
   Millimeter- mm, Centimeter- cm = 10mm,
   Meter- m = 100cm, Kilometer- km = 1000m or 10,000cm or 100,000mm,
   To change from one of these units to another simply divide by the shown factor of 10 to get to next larger unit and multiply by the correct factor to get to the next smaller unit. So 450cm equals 4.5m because to change cm to meters we divide by a factor of 100, which is how many cm there are in a meter. 450cm divided by 100= 4.5m. Likewise 1.2km equals 1200m because 1000 meters are equal to 1 kilometer. We multiply 1.2km times the factor of 1000 to get 1200m.
   For liquids the metrics units of measurement are:
   milliliter- ml, liter- l = 1000ml, hectoliter- hl = 100 liters or 100,000ml,
   For weight the metrics units of measurement are:
   centigrams- cg, gram- g = 100cg,
   kilograms- kg = 1000g or 100,000cg, Metric ton- metric tn = 1000kg, There are other units, but these are the most commonly used. Unit Conversion from one metric system unit to another simply takes multiplying or dividing by a factor of 10. To know whether the factor is 10, 100, or 1000, and whether it is a larger or smaller unit takes memorizing the unit measurements and their relative sizes. It takes more of a smaller unit so multiply to find them, and less of larger units so divide to get them. 10g = ___cg In this problem, looking for centigrams which are smaller than grams means to multiply. There are 100cg in a gram so the factor is 100, and 100 times 10 equals 1000, so the answer is 10g = 1000cg. There are online metric conversion calculators that can be useful when working with metrics.

2. Learn the English units of measurement, how they are used and how they compare. The English units of measurement for length are:
   inch- in, foot- ft = 12 in.,
   yard- yd = 3ft. or 36in., mile- mi = 1760yd. or 5280ft or 63,360in.,
   The rules are the same for converting from one these units to another. If looking for smaller units multiply and for larger ones divided. 63.9ft = ___yd Yards are larger than feet so we divide and 3 is the factor. 63.9 divided by 3 is 21.3 so the answer is 21.3yd.
   For liquids the units of measurement are:
   Fluid Ounces- oz, pints- pt = 16oz.,
   Quarts- qt = 2pt. or 32oz., Gallons- gal = 4qt. or 8pt. or 128 oz.
   For weight the units of measurement are:
   Again the Ounce- oz., pound- lb = 16oz.,
   ton- tn = 2000lb or 32,000oz.
   The math when working with these units is not as easy because of all the different factors. Different problems mean having to multiply or divide by 4, 16, 28, 32, or 2000. This means having to memorize all these numbers and almost always having to use a calculator or an online conversion calculator.

3. Understand how to use conversion rates. To convert from Metrics to the Imperial system or visa versa know the conversion rates for the two systems of measurement. Some of them for Metrics to the Imperial system are:
   1cm = 0.3937in. = 0.03281ft, 1m = 39.37in. = 3.281ft. = 1.094yd,
   1km = 3281ft. = 0.6214mi,, 1liter = 1.06qt = 0.265gal,
   1g = 0.0353oz = 0.00220lb, 1kg = 2.20lb = 0.00110tn,
   1metric ton = 2200lb = 1.10tn,
   For the Imperial system to Metrics:
   1in. = 2.54cm = 0.0254m, 1ft. = 30.5cm = 0.305m,
   1yd. = 91.4cm = 0.914m, 1mi. = 1609m = 1.609km,
   1qt. = 946ml = 0.946 l, 1oz. = 28350mg = 28.35g,
   1lb. = 453.6g = 0.4536kg, 1tn. = 907kg. = 0.907metric tn.,

   Using these rates simply use multiplication to find equal amounts no matter which size unit is being hunted for. To find out how many meters are equal to 11 yards use the rate showing 1yd = 0.914m and multiply 11 times 0.914. The answer is 10.054 meters. Likewise to find out how many ounces there are in 347g, use the rate for 1g equals 0.0353oz and multiply 347 times 0.0353 to get 12.249oz.
   In the first example, since the number of meters in 11 yards is 10.054, to convert to km divide by 1000 to get 0.010054km. As stated earlier, km are larger than meters so division is used to convert meters to km.
   Below under resources there are links to other articles about working with math. Please rate this article and any others you decide to check out, thank you.
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Tips & Warnings

• Write out a chart showing the different units and their conversion rates. It will help to refer back to.

• Listing the different units in order of size -smallest to largest- will help to know when to divide and when to multiply.

• Watch those decimals - putting them in the wrong place will make the answer will be off by a factor of 10.