DOCUMENT RESUME,

ED 139 614 SE 022 296

AUTHOR ljarbrow, Louis E.TITLE What About Metric. Revised Edition.INSTITUTION National Bureau of Si:andards (DOC), Washington,

D.C.PUB DATE Oct 74'NOTE 28p.; For earlier edition, see ED 090 024AVAILABLE FROM Superintendent of Documen+s, U.S. Soyermment Printing

Office, Washington, D.c. 20402 ($1.10)

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$2.06 Plus Postlage.DESCRIPTORS *Adult Education; *Consumer Economics; Decimal

Fractions; *Mathematics Education; *Measurement;*Metric System; Standards; Temperature; Weight

ABSTRACTDescribed are the adva.ntages of using the metric

system over the English system, The moSt commOn .units of both systemsare listed and compared. Pictures are used to exhibit use of themetric syStem in connection with glving prices or 'sizes of commonitems. Several examples provide computations of area, total weight ofseveral objects, and'volume; computations are carried out in bothsystems. A large part of the booklet is printed in the stYle ofposters. (SD)

,* Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished* materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort ** to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless,',items of marginal' ** reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality *.

* of the micrmfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available' *

*Nia the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). E'DRS is not* responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions ** supplied by FDRS are tle best that can be made from ,the original.***********************************************************************

LI S DEPARTMENT 0-F HEALTHEDUCATION & WELFARENATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATION

N '.11. HIEN RE 'F,20-Duc. I n A`, WECE F y. WOMTrAEI PE S NIlS OW,ANi:A7ION OWIC,INATINC, T OW OPINIONSSTATED DO NO7 NE LE SSAWIL C WEPWE-SENT 01 I(IAL NATONAL .NSIHTUTEEDUCATION POSITION OW POLICY

here is much discussion tOday concerning charrge fromthe traditional custoiniry system of meisurement (the-

,

'foot:and pound) to thelmetric sygtem of meas rement (thei'meter and kilogram). American industry is alr ady makinguse- of the.metric system, and such use is rapi ly increasing,Industry is doing so because of its finding th .increased-metric usage is in its best interests, and.in the best interests

1

, of Our countnj : .t

! As you can see from the map..ontpages 6 and 7,vvery,

1 ' industrial nation on earth except the United States has, officially adopted or Committed itself to the use of ttio Metric' system. It is apparent that metric measurements anckthe

; metric'language will be increasingly important to each bf us,whetliir or not the CCIpgress enacts additional metric ''legisla \ :In. ConSequently, it is to ouradvantage to learnthe me c language, .and how to use it. :

AltriOugh the metric system is different from thecustomary measurement system, it is not basically Strange tous..Our country, at its fOunding, pioneered among the .

nations of the woLld with adoption of a decimal system forits moneya SyStem in whiCh cur,rency denomInatiOns are .

related by tens. All of the other nations of the wOrld havesince found it to their advantage to follow ourJead, with

. England being the last nation to place its system on adecimal basis. . . .

Now, we are finding it adtfantageous to follow the. restof the world by adopting metrica.decinial systemas ourpredominant but not exklusive system of measurement.

As we ch6ge to t*netric systeni sever-al units ofmeasure that we currentlise will not be changed. Time willcontinue to be-measured,in:hours, minutes;and seconds;the rate at which we consurne electric energy will continueto be measured in watts; andhen we purchase a lightbulb we may still refer to the rumber of lumens of light itwill emit, as 'marked on the bul ' or its wrapper.

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No changeone o

y,ou use veights and meas-ures every day of your life.

Without th.em, work, shopping,trade, recreation, and educationwould be in a state of hopelessconfusion.

You learned the languageof measurement so early that,you' have probably forgottenthe day you first understood themeaning of "inch, foot, yard,and mile," of "ounce, poand,and ton;" of "cup, pint, quart,and gallon;" of "second, min-ute, and hour;" and that."100 °F" is uncomfortably hotlwhile "30 °F" is uncomfortably-cold. These are familiarbnitsof the"customary" system ofmeasurement that we tradition-ally have shared with oithernations.

The worldwide trend-todayis toward a coMparatively new___system called the "modernizedmetricsystem of measurement.iThe names of the units soundstrange to the American ear at

2

first, but fortunately there areonly a few words that have tohe learned for everyday.use.These are: the millimeter,centimeter, meter, and kilorne-ter fo,r describing length anddistrice; the millilitep and literfor c*acity or volume; thegram, kilogram, and tonne forweight; the kilometer per hourfor highway speed; and the

-degree Celsius (formerly called'Centigrade) for teMperature.

You are already *kingmore frequent use of the metricsystem than you probablyrealize. In international athletic:competition, such as swimmingand field trac-k events, length ,

measurements are referred toby sports reporters in metersrather than in yards or feet, Ourastronauts, frOm the. surfacethe moon, excitedly told aWorldwide audience how far-their rocket had landed from ,

a luriarhAlin meters. If yourautomobile s imported or evenif it is of domestk productionwith a metriC-designed motor,

5

the end wrenches or socket14wrenches that you need if you

want to work on your car are,metric rather than customary.You already know about 35-millimeter film and cigarettesthat are 100 millimeters long,or even 1 millimeter tongerthan that. You read and hearthat air pollution is measuredin micrograms per cubic meter.You see weights expressed ingrams on more and more pack-ageditems at the grocery store.And'the trend is toward evengreater use.

In science, the metric sys-tem has been in extensive usefor many years, although not tothe exclusion of tfie customarysystem.. But today, as the prob-!ems in stience become more

'complex, educators throughoutthe world are seeking tosimplify computation and'teaching by using the metricsystem in terms of everydaymeasurements.

degree

Why is [he metric

Increasinchi

T-te metric system is in-creasin,g in use throughout

the world for two principalreasons: It is ,1 S imp le system,and it is a decimal system.

It is simple because eachphysical quantity, such as lengthor weight, ha>.its Own unit ofmeasurement (meter and kilo-grati7), and no unit is used toexpress more than one quantity.By contrast, the customary sys-tem has several units of length(inch, foot, yard, mile) or weight(ounce, pound, ton, etc.);

--,:.,` "pound" can mean either.force(as inpounds required to breaka rope) or weight (as in a poundof sugar); and "ounce" canmean either volvme (as thenut-nber of ounces in a qua4)

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Or weight (ass the inumber ofounces in a pciund), The metricsystem is easieAhan the cus-tomary syvem to learn to usiin solving problems that involvecomputation. This is becausemetric units bear a decimalrelationship td one another, asopposed to the non-decimalmixed numbers and fractionsthat characterize relationshipsbetween our customary units.

The U.S. monetary systemhas been based on decimals(factors 01.4.) since the found-ing of our couTitry; 0-44t is, thedime equals one-tenth of adollar and the centequals one-hundredth of a dollar. By Con-trast, our customary measure-ment system involves units.that .arepof decinially related to eachother and thus requires the use .

of cbmmon fractions. Consider

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thefneasuremeht of length. Inthe metric sy4stem a centimeter

one-hundredth of a meter;millimeN 'is one-thousandth

of a meter;.and ,1 kilometer isone thousand meters. In thecustomary system, an inch isone thirty-sixth of a yard; afoot is one-third of a yard, anda mile is 1760 yards. Centi-meters are divided intometers, eacti of which is 1/10centimeter. But inches aredivided into h'alves, quarters,eighths, and so forth. Therefyre,computations usihgthe deci-mal steps of the metric systemare much simpler than thoseusing the non-decimal mixednumbers andfractions commonin our custdrriary system.

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A comparison of themetric system and thecustomary systemof medsurernent

The simplest waY tci compare the meek with' th 0810110inailsystem of measurement is to place the two systems side by .

side. In parallel columns we will identify the mat* astck,customiry units of measurerrnt; coMpare them vivid/in,show hdw theiwo systems-Wier in the solution cif everydayproblems inv6lving addition and multiplication,: and IPea feW examples of how the metric System may alfect yeweveryday life.

PREFIXES

you have probably noticed that the names ofortettic uniss.somppoupsinclude prefixes (Milli; centi, kilo, etc-) as gt milfibter crstf llesler. andkilogram. These prefixes indicate multiples or subotuttiples of tho moth

The most commonly-usAll prefixes, and the multipkAtion 4004they indicate, are given belo4

Prefix . Multiplication factorkilo 1000 lone thousand)centi 0.01. (one hundredth)milli 0.001 (one thousindth)

. Thus, the term kilometer melons 1000 meten, a titinsfiterf it 1.11tXof a meter; and a millimeter is lt1000 of a meter,

10 13

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ricin ever day us\eMost of us have developed a'sense or feel for the customary measurement uTtsthat we use every day. We know, for exampie, our weight in pounds and oiirheight in feet and inches; that a substantial individual serving of steak may,weigh a pound; that our.living room rug is 9 by 1 2 feet; that a half pint of milk

is usually sufficient with a meal; and that it is uncomfortably hot on days whentbe temperature is 90f

The, iltustrations oh the fllowing pages are designed to. give you a similar .

feeling for metric units, as they are used in familiar ways.o measure weight,length, volume mnd temperature.

WEIGHTWeight is/related to heaviness.

2 LENGTHLength is extent or distance.

VOLUMEVolume is space occupied.

WANNIAIMOIMMISLION,1,1041..

TEMPERATURETemperature is related to hotness or coldness.

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5 milliliters, = 1 teaspoon

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15 milliliters.= 1 tablespoon

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1 liter =1.06 quarts

METRIC COUNTER a handy guide for estimating the most commonligseriErfrigiViriieris'"--- AA

Eveiryday onitsof measurementThe unifs of metric and customary measure giyen on thN pale are not equivalenti, except in the caseof time, for which the metric and customary Anits are identical.

Unit of The Metric, The CustomaryMeasure System System

Length: millimeter inchcentimeter footMeter yardkilometer mile

Weight: gramkilogrammetric ton

ouncepoundton

Volume: milliliter ounceliter cup

pintquartgallon

Time: secondin u

hourday

Temperatuie:

secondminute-hoprday.,

degree Celsius degree Fahrenheit

Speed: kilometer mile, per hour e per hour

Pressure: pascalkilopascal

inch of mercurypound per square inch

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orisonof metric and ci.:somary units oimeasuremenIn the.examples below, a visual comparison is made of the majorunits of the customary and metric systems, by using everyday quanti-ties and sizes for purposes of illustration.

12

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Smalllinear dimensionsFor expressing small hneardimensions, such as wrenchsizes, millimeters will replaceinches. For example, a 6-mmwrench will be a morecommonly-used size than a1/4-inch wrench

Largerlinear dimensionsIn expressing larger sizes, themeter will replace both thefoot and the yard. In theexample shown, a 3 X 4meter carpet will generally besold rather than a 9 X 12 foot(or 3 X 4 yard) carpet.

,QreatDi?fances

CENTERVILLE UNTRUE The,kilometer wiH replace themile in expressing greatdistances, such-as distances

KILIIMETEBS MILESbetween cities. The,exampleshows the replacement for asign 25 miles from Centerville:it would read 40 kilometers.

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KILOGRAMS

SmallWeightsWhen we purchase smallquantities of things, such as

Ecandy, we will use gramsinstead of ounces. For example,250 grams will replace 9ounces.

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LargerWeightsThe purchase of large items,such as meat, will be figuredin kilograms rather thanpounds. In the exampleshown, a 2 kilogram roast willreplace a 4.5 pound roast.

VolumeWhen you order a tankful ofgas, you may note that it willtake 60 liters rather than 16gallons.

Speed

Our automobile speedometerswill change f Rtrn miles perhour to kilometers per houras the speed limit signs on ourhighways are likewise changed.Ott the speedometers shown,an 80 kilometers per hourspeed replaces 50 milesper hour.

13

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The statement 'and solution of three everyday problams are given in both customalyand metric units, providing a side by side corr1prison of the systems.

Problem: What is the area Of the floor of a room with thefdlowing dimensions?

Custornary Units Metric UnitsLength 15 ft 7 in 475 centimetersWidth 12 f t 6 ir). 380 centimeters

SOLUTION. The area is determined by rriultiplying thelength of the room by its width. Note that for room dimen-sions given in mixed customary units it is necessary to firstreduce them to a common unit expression which, in thiscase, maY be either feet or inches.

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.C1NTOMARYRoom Dimensions inInches

Multiply feet by 12 to convertto inches

Length (15 X 12) + 7 = 187 inWidth (12 X 12) + 6 = 150 in

187 X 150= 28 050 square inches

Total square inches diVided bynumber of square inches in asquare foot (144) equalsnumber of square feet

28 050 + 144 = 195square feet (approx )

Total square feet divided bynumber of square feet ih asquare yard (9) equals numberof square yards

195 + 9 = 22 squareyards (approx.)

2 5

METRICRoom Dimensions inCentimeters

Length 475 cmWidth. 380 cm

475 X 380180 500 square cm

Total square centimetersdivided by number of squarecentimeters in a square meter(10 000) equAls number ofsquare meters; i.e. movedecimal point 4 places to left

180 500 + 10 000 =18 square meters

(approx.)

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