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A more thorough introduction to the topics covered in this section can be found in the Prealgebra chapter, The Properties of Real Numbers .
There are two systems of measurement commonly used around the world. Most countries use the metric system. The U.S. uses a different system of measurement, usually called the U.S. system . We will look at the U.S. system first.
The U.S. system of measurement uses units of inch, foot, yard, and mile to measure length and pound and ton to measure weight. For capacity, the units used are cup, pint, quart, and gallons. Both the U.S. system and the metric system measure time in seconds, minutes, and hours.
The equivalencies of measurements are shown in [link] . The table also shows, in parentheses, the common abbreviations for each measurement.
| U.S. System of Measurement | |
|---|---|
In many real-life applications, we need to convert between units of measurement, such as feet and yards, minutes and seconds, quarts and gallons, etc. We will use the identity property of multiplication to do these conversions. We’ll restate the identity property of multiplication here for easy reference.
To use the identity property of multiplication, we write 1 in a form that will help us convert the units. For example, suppose we want to change inches to feet. We know that 1 foot is equal to 12 inches, so we will write 1 as the fraction When we multiply by this fraction we do not change the value, but just change the units.
But also equals 1. How do we decide whether to multiply by or We choose the fraction that will make the units we want to convert from divide out. Treat the unit words like factors and “divide out” common units like we do common factors. If we want to convert inches to feet, which multiplication will eliminate the inches?
The inches divide out and leave only feet. The second form does not have any units that will divide out and so will not help us.
MaryAnne is 66 inches tall. Convert her height into feet.
Lexie is 30 inches tall. Convert her height to feet.
2.5 feet
Rene bought a hose that is 18 yards long. Convert the length to feet.
54 feet
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