Metric Conversion Notes Metrics are downright interesting!

To remember this important table, say “King Henry drinks many delicious chocolate malts” PREFIXSYMBOLMEANINGEXAMPLE Kilok1000kilogram (kg) hektaha100Hektaliter(Hl) dekada10Dekaliter(dal) (meter, liter gram) – No prefix Meter, gram, Liter decid1/10Decigram(dg) centic1/100Centimeter (cm) millim1/1000milligram (mg)

Step 1: Figure out what you’re converting from and to, and look at the table! Example: Convert 200 meters to kilometers (km) -You are converting from meters to kilometers!

Step 2: Count the spaces or “jumps” on the table. Look at whether you count up or down! If you look at the table, to move from no prefix is three spaces to the kilo prefix.

PREFIXSYMBOLMEANINGEXAMPLE Kilok1000kilogram (kg) hektaha100Hektaliter(Hl) dekada10Dekaliter(dal) (meter, liter gram) – No prefix Meter, gram, Liter decid1/10Decigram(dg) centic1/100Centimeter (cm) millim1/1000milligram (mg)

Remember this phrase – “metrics are downright interesting!” Use this to remember that going down means moving the decimal to the right So going up means moving left. This means you will be moving the decimal point three places left m  0.2 km

Try to convert 35 Hg to g 1.From Hectograms (2 nd from the top) to grams (the middle) 2.We are jumping two spaces down 3.So, we move two decimal places right kg  35.0  3,500.0 g 5.So 35 kg  3,500 g

Try a few… 1)250 cm  _________ m 2)17.5 dg (decigrams)  ________ mg 3)344 L  __________ kL 4)27 mg  _________cg 5) km  _________cm