Lesson 11 — Activity 1: Measuring Length
Completion requirements
Lesson 11 — Activity 1: Measuring Length
Getting Ready
In L10 — A1, you read a little about the imperial system of measurement.
In this lesson, you will look at it more closely. The imperial system is an older system of measurement and is still used in the United States and a few other countries today.
If you are in the building industry, many of the measurements you use will be imperial. Many of your tools will be imperial as well. Therefore, it is important that you also know about imperial units of measure.
Courtesy of iStock
Try This:
Even though, as you have learned, Canada uses the
metric system
of measurement, not everything is measured in this way.
-
When you ask someone how tall they are, how do they respond?
-
When you tell someone how much you weigh, what unit of measurement do you use?
-
If you were buying lumber for a building project, what unit of measurement do you think you would use?
- People usually give their height in feet and inches.
- People usually give their weight in pounds.
- Lumber is usually sold by feet.
As you can see, imperial measurements are used quite often in everyday life.
Let's begin by talking about imperial units of length. The four units of measurement that we use the most when talking about imperial lengths are
inch,
foot,
yard, and
mile.
-
An inch is exactly 2.54 cm long. It is the smallest unit of measure you will look at in terms of imperial measures of length. An inch can be abbreviated as in.
-
Sometimes you might see the double quotation mark (i.e., ") to show inches.
For example, 11 inches can be written as 11 in or 11".
- Many things can be measured in inches such as rainfall amounts, the size of paper, or even submarine sandwiches!
Courtesy of Pixabay
-
A foot is 12 inches long. A foot can be abbreviated as ft.
-
Sometimes you will see the apostrophe (i.e., ') to show feet.
For example, 6 feet can be written as 6 ft or 6'. - Feet can be used to measure such things as the height of a person or the length of a car.
Courtesy of Getty
-
A yard is 3 feet long. It is also 36 inches long. A yard is the basic unit of measurement in the imperial system. A yard can be abbreviated as yd.
- Yards can be used to measure such things as the length of a football field.
Courtesy of Pixabay
-
A mile is 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet long. A mile can be abbreviated as mi.
- Miles are used to measure great distances. For example, the image below shows the distance between Edson and Edmonton. It is 120 miles.
Courtesy of ADLC
Try This:
When working with imperial measurements at school, at work, at home, or in your community, it is important that you choose the appropriate unit of measure. Practise choosing the appropriate unit of measure for the items below.
If you wanted to measure the distance between your home and Banff National Park, you would choose:
-
inches
-
feet
-
yards
-
miles
The most appropriate unit would be miles.
Courtesy of Pixabay
Courtesy of Pixabay
If you wanted to measure the diameter of your hand, you would choose:
- inches
- feet
- yards
- miles
The most appropriate unit would be inches.
If you wanted to measure the distance of a soccer field, you would choose:
-
inches
-
feet
-
yards
-
miles
The most appropriate unit would be yards.
Courtesy of iStock
Self-check!
Try This!
Answer the questions regarding imperial lengths on your own first. When you are finished, click on the tabs below to check your answers!
Jan is travelling from Edmonton to Paris. What is the best unit for showing the length of her journey?
Courtesy of Pixabay
The best unit for showing the length of her journey would be miles.
Joe is measuring the length of his leg in order to buy baseball pants.
What is the best unit to use for this measurement?
Courtesy of Pixabay
The best unit to use when measuring the length for pants is inches.
The best unit to use when measuring the length for pants is inches.
Digging Deeper
Click here to do some measuring yourself. Play at least two levels in the inch category.