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Another Singapore ??-is it heavily metric in the Standard Edition?


HappyGrace
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I'm looking at Standards Edition 2A and 2B. They start (briefly) with nonstandard units of measurements (paperclips, hand width for length), then go to metric (most of the chapter), then to US measurements.

 

I would say it is stronger and places more emphasis on the metric system than on the US system, but it does include the US measurements. (I'm really considering omitting the US measurements entirely but don't know if I'll manage it.)

 

I don't know what level you'd be using, but if you're starting at 1 or 2, you won't have any problem with the metric system in the book.

 

Even if you're starting at a higher level, all you really need is some additional reference to learn the metric system. It's so much easier than the US system. You just need to know the base units (meter for length, liter for volume, and gram for mass).

 

Then you need prefixes: milli for 1/1000, centi for 1/100, deci for 1/10, deka for 10, hecto for 100, and kilo for 1000. (There are others as well.)

Memorize a mnemonic to know the order...

(King Henry Died while Drinking Chocolate Milk is the one I've heard most often)

k h da (base) d c m

And just move the decimal to convert.

 

So 50 cm = 0.5 m (moving from c to base you move decimal two units left)

0.3 kg = 300 g (moving from k to base, move decimal 3 units right)

 

Hope this helps. (And it's SO much easier than all the conversions you need memorized for the US system.)

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Another link for metric at purplemath (a pretty good reference).

 

I use the illustration of the lost Mars orbiter as a reason why we should convert to the metric system and toss the US system when I teach it at the cc.

 

I also found it interesting when reading through all of Dick Francis's books (I was on a mystery kick for quite a while) that you could see the progress in how units were measured as England did the conversion to the metric system.

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