I struggle with converting units although I am good at math..

For example.. convert 45.12cm to lbs

or lbs to kg

or meters to cm

etc..

The way my professor taught it was:

Given Unit = desired unit / given unit = answer rounded to correct significant figure

Where it gets confusing for me is when you have to convert between metric and the English system..my brain just doesnt grasp it

Maybe the way he taught it is harder (for me) than another approach I should try taking?

This post was edited by Shakti on Jan 31 2015 01:06pm

Pm me I can help you with this

as a general rule, you write down what units you have, what units you want, and the conversion factor between them. you either multiply or divide by the conversion factor, whichever way makes the units work out.

eg: say you want to convert 5 cm to inches

units we have: cm
units we want: inches

c units we have * conversion_factor = n inches
5 cm * conversion_factor = n inches

conversion factor between cm and inches is 2.54 cm per inch. so you have to determine whether to multiply or divide.

5cm * 2.54 cm / inch = 12.7 cm^2/inch <--- that's not the units we want
5cm * 1inch / 2.54 cm = 1.97 inch <--- that's the unit we want

so the bottom is the answer


you cannot convert volume to weight unless you have density

This post was edited by carteblanche on Jan 31 2015 02:59pm

u just treat units like a variable x , and it cancels out the same way lol.