Units of Measurement

As we have been learning, everything in math that relates to the ‘real world’ has units. If there is a point to it there are units attached to it. The units that we use are particular to what we are measuring.  Being able to measure reasonably and correctly, whether that is lengths, volumes, mass or even the number of people at an event revolves around being able use the correct and most appropriate units.

The units we need to know about formally are

LENGTH/DISTANCE -->  mm, cm, m, km 

AREA  --> mm² , cm², m², km² 

VOLUME --> mm³, cm³, m³, km³

CAPACITY -->  mL, L, kL, ML

WEIGHT (actually called MASS) -->  mg, g, kg, metric ton 

TIME -->  seconds, mins, hrs, days, weeks, months, years 

One way we can identify the most appropriate unit is to find items or objects you are familiar with and know their approximate lengths or weights or volumes.

Examples

QUESTION 1

Choose: Which is the most appropriate unit to measure the length of a pencil?  millimetres, centimetres or metres.

Think:  Think about lengths that I know.  I know: 

that my pencil leads are measured in millimetres

that my phone is about $15$15 cm long and

that my height is about $1.6$1.6 m

I would connect the length of a pencil to being closest to my phone, rather than my pencil lead or my height.   

Do: I will say that centimetres is the most appropriate unit to measure a pencil.

QUESTION 2

QUESTION 3

QUESTION 4