The Metric System

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The Metric System
from Industry Week, 1981 November 30
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• Used in nearly every country in the world, the
  Metric System was devised by French scientists in
  the late 18th century. The goal of this effort
  was to produce a system that used the decimal
  system rather than fractions as well as a single
  unified system that could be used throughout the
  entire world.

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Prefixes
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Converting with the Metric System

• When converting within the metric system it is
  simply a measure of moving the decimal in the
  appropriate direction.

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Converting with the Metric System

• King Henry Drinks Milk During Castle Meetings
• Kilo Hecto Deca Meter Deci Centi Milli
• 1000 100 10 1 .1 .01 .001
• 1000 m ______ km
• .001 hg ______ dg
• 42.7 L _____ cL

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Things to remember

• The short forms for metric units are called
  symbols, NOT abbreviations
• Metric symbols never end with a period unless
  they are the last word in a sentence.
• RIGHT 20 mm, 10 kg
• WRONG 20 mm., 10 kg.
• Metric symbols should be preceded by digits and a
  space must separate the digits from the symbols
• RIGHT the box was 2 m wide
• WRONG the box was 2m wide

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Things to remember

• Symbols are always written in the singular form
• RIGHT 500 hL, 43 kg
• WRONG 500 hLs, 43 kgs
• BUT It is correct to pluralize the written out
  metric unit names 500 hectoliters, 43 kilograms
• The compound symbols must be written out with the
  appropriate mathematical sign included
• RIGHT 30 km/h, 12 cm/s
• WRONG 30 kmph, 30 kph (do NOT use a p to
  symbolize per)
• BUT It is ok to write out kilometers per hour

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Things to remember

• The meaning of a metric symbol is different
  depending on if it is lowercase or capitalized
• mm is millimeters (1/1000 meters)
• Mm is Megameters (1 million meters)