5 Questions
What is a synonym for distance depending on the orientation?
Width
For what kind of measurements are centimeters suitable?
Measuring the height of a sunflower seed
Which unit of measurement is used for larger distances such as measuring distances between different locations on Earth or in space?
Kilometers
How many centimeters are approximately equal to 4 inches?
10 cm
How many times longer is a foot compared to an inch?
12 times
Study Notes
- Distance is a 1-dimensional quantity that describes how far it is between two points, with synonyms like "length", "height", "width", or "depth" depending on the orientation.
- Different units of distance exist due to the wide range in the sizes of objects we might want to measure, known as the relative scale of objects.
- Choosing a unit of measurement that matches the scale of the object being measured makes the numbers more relatable and easier to work with.
- Traditional units of distance include inches, feet, yards, and miles, commonly used in America for measuring distances.
- For smaller measurements, units like inches and centimeters are used, while for larger distances, units like feet, yards, and miles are employed.
- Metric units of distance, preferred by the scientific community and many countries, include millimeters, centimeters, meters, and kilometers.
- Centimeters are good for small measurements like the width of a sunflower seed, while meters are suitable for larger distances like the height of a building.
- Kilometers are used for even longer distances, such as measuring distances between different locations on Earth or in space.- A foot is 12 times longer than an inch, and since there are 2.54 cm in an inch, a foot is exactly 30.48 cm long.
- For estimates, an inch is roughly 2.5 cm and a foot is about 30 cm.
- 10 centimeters is close to 4 inches (3.937 inches precisely) when using the estimate of 2.5 cm per inch.
- A meter is approximately 39.6 inches long, which is slightly more than 3 feet or 1.1 yards.
- A mile is about 1.6 kilometers long, with the exact conversion being 1.609344 kilometers.
Learn about different units of distance, including traditional units like inches, feet, yards, and miles commonly used in America, as well as metric units like millimeters, centimeters, meters, and kilometers. Understand the relative scale of objects and how choosing an appropriate unit of measurement can make calculations more relatable and easier.
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