Converting Units in the Metric System Lesson 9-2

Making Conversions You can convert from one metric unit to another by multiplying or dividing by a power of 10 (10, 100, 1,000, etc). When changing from larger units to smaller units, you multiply. When changing from smaller units to larger units, you divide.

Example 4.2 m = _______ cm Meters are larger than centimeters LS Converting from large units to smaller units requires multiplication. Multiply 4.2 by 100, since there are 100 centimeters in a meter. To multiply by 100, move the decimal point two spaces to the right. 420

Example 2 36 g = ______kg We are going from a smaller unit to a larger unit, so we divide. Divide by 1,000 since there are 1,000 grams in a kilogram. To divide by 1,000, move the decimal point three spaces to the left..036

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