The Metric System Made Simple

The Metric O. Albert .J , F. Kempf and %stem Made Simple Thomas J. Richards 77 ' ' C3J1 10^_ THE METRIC SYSTEM MADE SIMPLE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 http://www.archive.org/details/metricsystemmadeOOkemp THE METRIC SYSTEM MADE SIMPLE By and ALBERT THOMAS J. KEMPF RICHARDS F. MADE SIMPLE BOOKS DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK Material in this book has been taken from Using the Metric System and Exploring the Metric System By Albert F. Kempf and Thomas J. Richards Published by Laidlaw Brothers Copyright © 1973 Laidlaw Brothers Publishers • A Division of Doubleday & Company, Inc. River Forest, Palo Alto, California All rights reserved. No Dallas, Texas Illinois Toronto, Canada Atlanta, Georgia may be reproduced part of this publication or transmitted any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. in ISBN: 0-385-11032-4 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-36631 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kempf, Albert F. The metric system made simple. (Made simple books) "Material . . . taken from [the authors'] Using the metric system and Exploring the metric system." 1 . Metric system. States. I. 2. Weights and measures Thomas J., QC92.U54K45 Richards, joint author. 530'.8 —United II. Title. Contents INTRODUCTION vii LENGTH 1 Meter Decimeter 1 3 5 7 Centimeter and Millimeter Dekameter and Hectometer 9 Kilometer Prefixes and the Decimal System Estimating Adding Metric Measures Subtracting Metric Measures Problems About Length More Problems About Length Conversions Check Your Progress PERIMETER AND AREA Perimeter Area Square Units Area of a Rectangle Area of Other Geometrical Shapes Land Area Comparing Perimeter and Area Conversions Check Your Progress VOLUME AND CAPACITY Volume Cubic Units Finding Volume Larger Units of Volume Volume and Area Capacity Capacity and Volume Problems About Volume and Capacity Conversions Check Your Progress 1 14 17 20 22 24 28 32 35 35 39 39 43 45 48 5 52 53 55 55 55 57 60 62 64 68 69 73 75 vi Contents MASS AND WEIGHT - Definitions Grams, Kilograms, and Metric Tons Problems Density and Specific Gravity Conversions 11 77 82 87 93 96 97 Check Your Progress OTHER UNITS 99 99 Prefixes for Metric Units Temperature Celsius Scale Kelvin Scale Radian Ampere, Candela, and Lumen Check Your Progress 101 101 103 105 106 108 GLOSSARY 111 SOME UNITS AND THEIR SYMBOLS 115 UNITS OF MEASUREMENTCONVERSION FACTORS Units of Length Units of Mass Units of Capacity, or Volume, Liquid Measure Units of Capacity, or Volume, Dry Measure Units of Area SPECIAL TABLES 117 117 118 120 122 124 125 Equivalents of Decimal and Binary Fractions of an Inch in Millimeters International Nautical Miles