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Metric System Basics
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IntroductionThe metric system is a group of units used to
make any kind of measurement
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The Creation of the Metric System
• In 1790, the National Assembly of France asked the French Academy of Sciences to create a standard system of weights and measures.
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The Creation of the Metric System
• The unit of length, or meter, equals a fraction of the earth's circumference.
• This fraction was 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the North Pole to the equator along a line of longitude near Dunkerque, France; and Barcelona, Spain.
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Metric System• The metric system is based on a base
unit that corresponds to a certain kind of measurement
• Length = meter• Volume = liter• Weight (Mass) = gram
• Prefixes plus base units make up the metric system – Example:
• Centi + meter = Centimeter• Kilo + liter = Kiloliter
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• The units for volume
• and mass
• came from the meter.
• A liter is a cube
• that is one decimeter on each side.
• the gram, as the mass of a cubic centimeter of water at the temperature of about 4 °C (39 °F).
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Using the Metric System
• follows the decimal number system--that is, metric units increase or decrease in size by 10's. The metric system is a decimal system just as are the U.S. and Canadian money systems.
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Metric System
• So if you needed to measure length you would choose meter as your base unit– Length of a tree branch
• 1.5 meters
– Length of a room • 5 meters
– Length of a ball of twine stretched out• 25 meters
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Metric System• The three prefixes that we will use
the most are:– kilo– centi– milli
kilo hecto deca
Base Units
metergramliter
deci centi milli
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Metric System• But what if you need to measure a
longer distance, like from your house to school?– Let’s say you live approximately 10
miles from school• 10 miles = 16093 meters
– 16093 is a big number, but what if you could add a prefix onto the base unit to make it easier to manage:• 16093 meters = 16.093 kilometers (or
16.1 if rounded to 1 decimal place)
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Metric System• These prefixes are based on powers of
10. What does this mean?– From each prefix every “step” is either:
• 10 times larger or
• 10 times smaller
– For example• Centimeters are 10 times larger than millimeters• 1 centimeter = 10 millimeters
kilo hecto deca
Base Units
metergramliter
deci centi milli
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Metric System
– Centimeters are 10 times larger than millimeters so it takes more millimeters for the same length
1 centimeter = 10 millimetersExample not to scale
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 cm
40
41
41
40
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Metric System• For each “step” to right,
you are multiplying by 10
• For example, let’s go from a base unit to centi
1 liter = 10 deciliters = 100 centiliters
2 grams = 20 decigrams = 200 centigrams
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
( 1 x 10 = 10) = (10 x 10 = 100)
(2 x 10 = 20) = (20 x 10 = 200)
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Metric System• An easy way to move within the metric
system is by moving the decimal point one place for each “step” desired
Example: change meters to centimeters
1 meter = 10 decimeters = 100 centimetersor
1.00 meter = 10.0 decimeters = 100. centimeters
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
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Metric System• Now let’s try our previous example from
meters to kilometers:16093 meters = 1609.3 decameters =
160.93 hectometers = 16.093 kilometers
• So for every “step” from the base unit to kilo, we moved the decimal 1 place to the left (the same direction as in the diagram below)
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
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Metric System• If you move to the left in the diagram,
move the decimal to the left
• If you move to the right in the diagram, move the decimal to the right
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
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Metric System• Now let’s start from centimeters and
convert to kilometers
400000 centimeters = 4 kilometers
400000 centimeters = 4.00000 kilometers
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
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Metric System• Now let’s start from meters and convert to
kilometers
4000 meters = 4 kilometers
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
• Now let’s start from centimeters and convert to meters
4000 centimeters = 40 meters
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Metric System• Now let’s start from meters and convert to
centimeters
5 meters = 500 centimeters
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
• Now let’s start from kilometers and convert to meters
.3 kilometers = 300 meters
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Metric System• Now let’s start from kilometers and convert to
millimeters
4 kilometers = 4000000 millimetersor
4 kilometers = 40 hectometers = 400 decameters = 4000 meters = 40000 decimeters = 400000 centimeters = 4000000
millimeters
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli
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Metric System• Summary
– Base units in the metric system are meter, liter, gram
– Metric system is based on powers of 10– For conversions within the metric system, each
“step” is 1 decimal place to the right or left– Using the diagram below, converting to the right,
moves the decimal to the right and vice versa
kilo hecto deca
meterliter
gram
deci centi milli