Page 413 - Basic College Mathematics with Early Integers

390 C HAPTE R 5 I RATIO, PROPORTION, AND MEASUREMENT

Borrow 1 yd=3 ft
5 yd+ 1 yd 3 ft
6 yd 1 ft = 5 yd 4 ft
– 2 yd 2 ft = – 2 yd 2 ft
3 yd 2 ft
The remaining rope is 3 yd 2 ft long.

Work Practice 8

Objective Defining and Converting Metric System
Units of Length

The basic unit of length in the metric system is the meter. A meter is slightly longer
than a yard. It is approximately 39.37 inches long. Recall that a yard is 36 inches long.

1 yard 36 inches

1 meter 39.37 inches
All units of length in the metric system are based on the meter.The following is
a summary of the prefixes used in the metric system. Also shown are equivalencies
between units of length. Like the decimal system, the metric system uses powers of
10 to define units.

Metric Units of Length
1 kilometer 1km2 = 1000 meters (m)
1 hectometer 1hm2 = 100 m
1 dekameter (dam) = 10 m
1 meter 1m2 1 m
1 decimeter 1dm2 = 1>10 m or 0.1 m
1 centimeter 1cm2 = 1>100 m or 0.01 m
1 millimeter 1mm2 = 1>1000 m or 0.001 m

The figure below will help you with decimeters, centimeters, and millimeters.
1 meter

1 1
1 decimeter Å meter 1 centimeter meter 1 millimeter meter
100 1000

Study the figure above for other equivalencies between metric units of length.
10 decimeters = 1 meter 10 millimeters = 1 centimeter
100 centimeters = 1 meter 10 centimeters = 1 decimeter
1000 millimeters = 1 meter Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

These same prefixes are used in the metric system for mass and capacity. The most
commonly used measurements of length in the metric system are the meter,
millimeter, centimeter, and kilometer.