Jump to content

Menu

Recommended Posts

Posted

Anyone have any good resources, (books, youtube, DVD's etc...) for learning the metric system inside out. I also want something that teaches converting from one system to another. I am in nursing school and really need to brush up on these skills. I am also a see/hear/feel learner so anything that helps in that way would be great. 

 

Thanks!

Posted (edited)

Just a thought: is there a specific reason that you need to work on conversions?  It's the conversions that are hard, so make sure it's really needed.  Metric itself you could learn in an hour or less.

Edited by Laura Corin
  • Like 1
Posted

What do you need to convert? My mom was a nurse and she can convert lb and oz to kg, g, fluid ounces to ml, feets and inches to meters, cm, mm.

 

My kids learn to convert lengths by going to IKEA and measuring stuff there using the IKEA paper tape which has cm and inches.

 

They learn to convert weight and liquid measurements by baking. We have measuring jugs with imperial and SI units. We have kitchen weighing scales with both units too.

Posted (edited)

I agree!  The metric system is so incredibly straight forward---you can learn it very easily in less than an hour.   Everything is nicely named and in nice round numbers.   Start out becoming familiar with the basic prefixes and you are good to go!   Here is a website that lists ALL of the metric prefixes, I would suggest just memorizing the most common for your needs and field.    

 

It is much, much more difficult to learn the imperial system.....even for someone like me who has used the imperial system my entire life.   Which brings me to my next point....

 

The trickiest part of converting is REALLY knowing the imperial system!  Trust me!   You can easily memorize a few key

metric-->imperial equivalents. ( Example:  There are 2.54cm per inch.)   That will allow you to VERY quickly figure out how many inches in a meter, kilometer, etc.  (Since the numbers are nice, whole 100s and 1000s).   But, how many inches in a mile?   Most people know that there are 12 inches in a foot, and 3 feet in a yard---BUT, do you know how many feet are in a mile?   (5,280)   So you had better memorize that too!  (It is the imperial system that is complicated!)

 

Same thing with volume and weight.   Memorize one key metric-->imperial equivalent....then work on all of the crazy imperial system equivalents.  Example, I know there are 14.747mL in a Tbsp.   One thing to memorize.   But then I must learn how many tsp in a Tbsp.  How many Tbsp in a fluid ounce,  how many ounces in a cup, how many cups in a pint, pints in a quart, quarts in a gallon, etc. etc.

 

 

 

 

Edited by TheAttachedMama
  • Like 2

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...