CHAPTER 1: MEASUREMENT

Introduction
Every once in a while, you check your height on a scale to see if you’ve grown any taller.
In the market, people sell meat and fish in grams and kilograms. These are just some examples
that show how important it is to be able to take correct measurements. In this lesson we will
learn:
- The development of measurement from primitive to standard systems of units
- The different current systems of measurement for
o Length
o Weight
o Volume
o Temperature
o Time
o Angle
- How to express relationships between two quantities
- How to convert measurements from one unit to another
- How to solve problems involving measurement

Experiment!
Materials:
Your feet
A ruler

Procedure:
Step 1: Count how many steps it would take you to get from one end of the
classroom to the other. Record it on a piece of paper.
Step 2: Use the ruler to measure the same distance that you walked. Record it on
a piece of paper.
Step 3: Compare the results that you got from step 1 and 2 and answer the
following questions on your paper.
Step 4: Compare the results that you got with one of your classmates

Questions:
1.) Did you get the same result in step 1 and step 2? Why?
2.) Are your results in step 1 the same with your classmate’s results? Why?
3.) Are your results in step 2 the same with your classmate’s results? Why?
4.) What do you think is better for measuring distances, the ruler or your feet?
Why?
History Lesson
Back in the old days, people used their body parts to take measurements. Locations on
maps were described by the number of paces that it took to get from one place to another.
Weights were measured by using balancing scales. Time was estimated by looking at the
position of the sun and later on by using sundials. Obviously, these measurements were very
crude and the standards that they used varied widely. A mapmaker’s 20 paces may be 25 paces
for someone who has feet smaller than the mapmaker and only 15 to someone who had larger
feet. The Greeks were said to be among the first civilizations to notice this problem. They
standardized the “foot” to a specific measurement and made sticks of similar length to represent
the measure. It is said in legend that the Greeks based this standard foot measurement on the
length of their hero, Hercules’ foot. Over the years, people realized that it was much more
convenient to have the same standards of measurement for everything. This led to the creation of
a standard unit of measurement called the Metric system which was developed by the French in
1790 under the order of King Louis XVI. This system of measurement was later slightly revised
to become the international system of units used today.

The Metric System of Measurement

Quantity Unit Name Unit Symbol Sample Usage
Length meters m Her house was just
100 meters from the
church.
Weight grams g He bought 500
grams of sugar from
the store
Volume liters L He made 3 liters of
juice for everyone.
Temperature Degrees Celsius °C Water boils at
100°C.
Time seconds s You have 15
seconds to answer
the question.
Angle degrees ° He brings his bike to
a full 360° turn

Exercise 1: Choosing from the appropriate Metric units, supply the unit symbol that is most
appropriate for the blanks in each sentence.

1.) The man swam 20 ____ in 30 ____ to get to the other side of the wide lake.
2.) They set up camp and cooked 300 ____ of rice.
3.) The night was cool at 15 ____ so they huddled near the campfire to sleep.
4.) His friend fetched 5 _____ of water from the lake to douse the campfire in the morning.

Unit Prefixes
 Using the standard units as they car can become difficult when measuring very large or
very small quantities. For example, it would be difficult to write a full grown elephant’s weight
in grams or the length from Manila to Tagaytay in meters. Similarly, it is hard to write the
volume of a drop of water in liters. Therefore, prefixes are used on order to make writing very
large or very small quantities easier.

Prefix Symbol Amount of Prefix Symbol Amount of

units units
deca- da 10 deci- d 0.1
hecto- h 100 centi- c 0.01
kilo- k 1000 milli- m 0.001
mega- M 1000000 micro- µ 0.000001
giga- G 1000000000 nano- n 0.000000001
tera- T 100000000000 pico- p 0.000000000001
0

Using prefixes

The prefixes described in the table are usually used for Metric units of length, weight, volume,
and time. To use a prefix, simply attach it before the unit name or attach its symbol before the
unit symbol.

Examples:

1000 grams = 1 kilogram or 1000g = 1 kg

0.01 meters = 1 centimeter or 0.01m = 1 cm
0.001 liters = 1 milliliter or 0.001L = 1 mL
0.000000001 seconds = 1 nanosecond or 0.00000001s = 1 ns

Thus, 1000 grams can simply be represented as 1 kilogram. The same is true for meters and
liters. On the other hand, 0.000000001 grams can just be represented as 1 nanogram.

Converting Values

To convert from a base unit to a prefixed unit such as from gram to kilogram, all you need to do
is multiply the given quantity by the conversion factor which is a fraction in the following form:

Conversion factor = (unit to be converted to)/(current unit)

Let us convert 14 678 grams into kilograms. First, we determine that 1kg = 1000g, making the
conversion factor 1kg/1000g. The computation is as follows:

= 14 678g x 1kg/1000g
= 14 678g x 1kg/1000g  Cancel out like and opposite units
= 14 678kg/1000
 = 14.678 kg

Here’s another example. Converting 0.23 liters to milliliters, we use the conversion factor based
on 1 milliliter = 0.001 liter.

= 0.23 liters x 1 milliliter/0.001 liters

= 0.23 milliliter/0.001
= 230 milliliter or 230 mL

To convert prefixed units back to their base units, the same procedure is followed. For example if
we wish to convert 276 centigrams to grams,

= 276 centigrams x 1 gram/100 centigrams

= 276 grams/100
= 2.46 grams

Exercise 2: Convert the following as indicated

1.) 31 567 m = ________ km

2.) 0.021 kg = ________ g
3.) 29 103 nm = ________ m
4.) 0.092 L = ________ mL
5.) 45 321 ms = ________ s

To convert prefixed units to another prefixed units, we would need to multiply two conversion
factors instead of one to the given value. The first conversion factor is from the given prefixed
unit to the base unit and the second is from the base unit to the target prefixed unit. For example,
to convert 0.002 kilometers to centimeters we use the conversion factors 1000m/1km and 100
cm/1m.

= 0.002km x 1000m/1km x 100 cm/1m

= 2m x 100cm/1m
= 200 cm

Here’s another example. Converting 2348 micrograms to milligrams,

= 2348µ x 0.000001g/1µ x 1000mg/1g

= 0.002348g x 1000mg/1g
= 2.348 mg

Exercise 3: Convert the following as indicated

1.) 0.03 Mg = __________ cg

2.) 2.567 km = __________ cm
3.) 17 372 pL = __________ mL
4.) 76 456 ms = __________ µs
The English System of Measurement
Aside from the Metric system, there are other systems of measurement that you must be
familiar with so that you can easily convert quantities from one to the other. Another commonly
used system of measurement is the English system. The basic unit of this system is the foot.

1 foot = 12 inches or 1 ft = 12 in

1 yard = 3 feet or 1 yd = 3 ft

The most commonly used equality for converting from the English system of length to
the Metric system is 1 inch = 2.54 cm. Hence if we need to convert 8 inches to centimeters, all
we need to do is apply the conversion factor to get:

= 8 inches x 2.54 cm/1 inch

= 20.32 cm

To convert from feet to meters, we will need to apply several conversion factors. First
from feet to inches, then from inches to centimeters and lastly from centimeters to meters. Thus
to convert 1 foot to meters,

= 1 foot x 12 inches/ 1 foot x 2.54 cm/1 inch x 1m / 100 cm

= 12 inches x 2.54 cm/1 inch x 1m / 100 cm
= 30.48 cm x 1m / 100 cm
= 0.3048 m

Now we know that 1 foot = 0.3048 meters! In future instances when you need to convert
feet to meters or vice versa, you may simply use this new conversion factor that we have made.
Using this new conversion factor to convert 40 meters to yards, we have:

= 40 m x 1 ft/ 0.3048 m x 1 yd/3 ft

= 131.233595800525 ft x 1 yd/3 ft
= 43.7445319335083 yd

Exercise 4: Convert the following as indicated

1.) 66 in = _________ ft
2.) 278 cm = _________ ft
3.) 2.5 yd = _________ dm
4.) 13 ft = _________ m

Challenge!

1.) Make a research of the English system of measurement for volume and weight.
 2.) Find conversion factors for weight and volume from the English to the Metric system.
Solving Problems Involving Measurement
Review of steps in solving a problem
Step 1: Read the problem carefully.
Step 2: Take note of the given.
Step 3: Find what final answer is required.
Step 4: Formulate a strategy leading to the final answer.
Step 5: Solve the problem using the formulated strategy.
Step 6: Check the results.

Sample Problem: Dante’s recipe.

Dante has decided to make his famous Tuna Cheese Rice Surprise for a party and needs
to get some ingredients together. He needs 520 grams of tuna added to 1.2 kilograms of rice and
20 milligrams of super chili powder. He just adds all these together and mixes them up. Then he
serves 5 people (including himself) equal portions. About how many grams in one portion?

Given: 520 g of tuna, 1.2 kg rice, 20 mg super chili powder

Required: Weight of one serving in grams

Strategy:
Convert all ingredients’ weights to grams
Add all the quantities
Divide by the 5 people who were served
Solution:
1.2 kg x 1000g/1kg = 1200g
20 mg x 0.001g/1mg = 0.2g
520g + 1200g + 0.2g = 1720.2g
1720.2g/5 = 344.04g

Answer: Each serving is about 344.04g

Exercise 5: Solve the following word problems

1.) Sandra takes a 40m rope and ties it up to a 20m rope to make a new rope. If the resulting
rope is 20 cm shorter than the individual lengths of the two pieces of rope added together,
how long is the Sandra’s new rope? Why do you think is the resulting piece of rope
shorter than the total length of the two pieces.

2.) In order to make some refreshing summer coolers, 10 centiliters of fruit concentrate and
two tablespoons of liquid sugar approximately 50 mL each are added to 2 liters of water
and mixed well. 10 ice cubes each about 30 mL are added to the drink. How many liters
of summer cooler does this make?
3.) Lola Seling makes 1.6 kilos of kalamay for her granchildren’s merienda. Lola Seling has
10 grandchildren and Benson, her favorite always gets double the share of everyone else.
How many grams of kalamay does Lola Seling give to her favorite apo?

4.) Three friends enter a climbing contest where they only have 1 minute to scale a wall to
the top. Bentong finishes with 5 seconds to spare, Kevin with 200 nanoseconds, and
Tonio with 14 000 picoseconds. Who among the three won the race?

5.) Jenny’s Mother instructed her that she should not go swimming in a pool if the water was
higher than she was tall. Jenny is just 4’1’’ and the pool was 2 meters deep. Should Jenny
take a swim?
References

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1993). Quantities, Units and Symbols in
Physical Chemistry (2nd Edn). Oxford: Blackwell Science.

U.S. Metric Association. (2007). Metric system temperature. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from:
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/temps.htm

History of Measurement. Retrieved April 12, 2008 from:

http://ellerbruch.nmu.edu/CS255/JONIEMI/Metricsystem.html