Metric Conversions printable pdf download

Metric Conversions

The advantage of the metric system over the American/English system is that

everything is in base ten. Remember, when we multiply or divide by 10, 100, 1000,

etc. all we are doing is moving the decimal point. All of the digits in the number

stay the same.

Ex: 3.52 x 10 = 35.2 3.52 x 100 = 352 3.52 ÷10 = 0.352 3.52 ÷100 = 0.0352

This is true for converting between units in the metric system. A nifty way of

remembering which way to move the decimal point and how many places to move

the decimal point is a mnemonic device.

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“Units” means grams, liters, meters, and other basic measurement units. The ones

that are used most frequently are kilometers (km), meters (m), centimeters (cm),

millimeters (mm); kilograms (kg), grams, milligrams (mg); liters, milliliters (ml).

Not only does the chart tell us what direction to move the decimal point, but it also

tells us how many places to move it.

Example: Change 15 meters in millimeters.

The decimal point is to the right of the 5 Æ 15.

Since “meters” is the unit measure and we want to get to millimeters, we’ll need to

move the decimal point from “units” to “milli-“, which is three places to the right.

15 meters =

millimeters

0 0

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Convert the following:

1) 145 mg = ______ g

2) 2.52 km = _______ cm

3) 156 mm = ______ cm

4) 45.765 L = _______mL 5) 0.3357 kg = _________mg 6) 7 g = _______kg

7) 5 m = ______ km

8) 0.25 cm = _________m

9) 355 mL = ______L

Metric Conversions