Lesson 14 — Activity 1:

Introduction

Although Canada is a country that officially adopted the metric system in the 1970s, you will find that both the metric and imperial systems are still used in many places in our everyday lives. Distances and speed are usually in metric, and they are reported in metres and kilometres, however, most vehicle speedometer's show both systems (kilometres per hour and miles per hour — that is because most of the vehicles that are for sale in Canada come from the US!). Our temperatures are usually in Celsius, although many devices like thermostats that are sold in Canada are preset to Fahrenheit by their US manufacturers.

There are many jobs that will require you to convert units from one system to the next. For example, when it comes to construction, measurements in feet and inches still remain dominant, in part because of the US manufacturers in construction supplies. This is important to note if you plan to have a career in the construction field. Other jobs that require the conversion from metric to imperial (and vice versa!) include carpenter, hairstylist, painter, landscaper, and welder, just to name a few!

Therefore, it is important to know both systems and how to convert one to the other. In the lessons that follow, you will learn how to convert within the metric and imperial systems, and then you will learn how to convert between the two systems.

Basic Units of Measurement 

Length 

In the metric system, the basic unit of length is the metre.

• Other units of length include the millimetre, centimetre, and the kilometre.   

In the imperial system, the common units are the inch, foot, yard, and mile.  

Mass

The basic unit of mass (or weight) in the metric system is the gram.

• Other units of mass include the kilogram and the milligram.  

The common units of mass in the imperial system are the ounce, pound, and ton. 

Capacity

The basic unit of capacity of liquids in the metric system is the litre.

• The other common unit of capacity is the millilitre.

The imperial system has many units of liquid capacity. They include the cup, pint, quart, and gallon.

To help you with your work and understanding of the how the two systems are related, take a look at the chart to the right that shows some of the more common units that you might use at home, work, or school.

You will learn more about these and other conversions in the lessons that follow.

Remember in the previous lessons on metric and imperial when you looked at differences in the two rulers? In the metric system, we use millimetres (mm) and centimetres (cm) to measure lengths. In the imperial system, however, we use inches to measure lengths. In addition , each inch is divided in half. Each of those halves is then divided in half again to give you quarters. Each of those quarters is divided in half again to give you eighths. And each of those eighths are divided in half again to give you sixteenths.