The basics of the metric system
This simple lesson explains the common prefixes of the metric system units and how they work. The units are organized in a table, and we learn what each prefix actually means:
kilo (thousand)
hecto (hundred)
deka (ten)
basic unit
deci (tenth)
centi (hundredth)
milli (thousandth)
These same prefixes are used whether you have meters, grams, liters, watts, bytes, or whatever. Each unit (such as millimeter, centimeter, decimeter, meter, etc.) differs from the neighboring ones by a factor of ten.
I show you how to convert from a unit with a prefix to a basic unit, using the meaning of the prefix. For example, since "centi" means "a hundredth", then 8 cm means 8 hundredths of a meter, or 0.08 m.
This lesson is part of the Math Mammoth Grade 5 Curriculum:
https://www.mathmammoth.com/complete/...
Practice converting between different measurement units with this online matching game:
https://www.mathmammoth.com/practice/...