
Unlike our English system of measurement with
its feet and inches, quarts and gallons,
the metric system is very orderly



All variations of the units of measure are really just
the units multiplied by powers of 10.
Converting to larger or smaller unit
measurements is a matter of multiplying or
dividing by 10, 100, 1000 and so forth.
This can be simply accomplished by moving the
decimal place to the left or right the appropriate
number of spaces, as we will soon see.

Distance = measured in meters, “m”

Volume = measured in liters, “l”

Mass = measured in grams, “g”

King Henry Died Unexpectedly Drinking Chocolate Milk…


To help you gain a basic understanding of their relative size, it is
useful to learn to associate familiar everyday items of similar
measurement with the basic units.
King Henry Died Unexpectedly Drinking Chocolate Milk
A meter is approximately equal to the length of a yardstick.
A liter is approximately equal to the volume of a quart.
A gram is approximately equal to the weight of a paper clip.
King Henry Died Unexpectedly Drinking Chocolate Milk!!!

Well... nothing actually, but this silly sentence IS a mnemonic device,
a memory tool, to help you remember the relationships between the
variations of these basic units.
[K]ing [H]enry [D]ied
(u)nexpectedly [d]rinking
[c]hocolate [m]ilk
Kilo
Hecto
Deca
[K]ing
[H]enry
[D]ied
Unit of
Measure
(Unexpectedly)
deci
centi
milli
[d]rinking
[c]hocolate
[m]ilk
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
10
Centimeters are 10 times
larger than millimeters so
it takes more millimeters
for the same length
1 centimeter = 10
millimeters
Example not to scale
40
1 mm
40
1 cm
41
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm
41
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
Unit
deci
centi
milli


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
Unit
deci
centi
milli
Now let’s start from meters and convert to
centimeters
5 meters = 500 centimeters
Kilo
•
Hecto
Deca
Unit
deci
centi
milli
Now let’s start from kilometers and convert to
meters
.3 kilometers = 300 meters
Kilo
Hecto
Deca
Unit
deci
centi
milli

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
Unit
deci
centi
milli