Study guide: Convert Measurements and Use Fractional Data
Convert larger to smaller units, calculate time, solve rectangle dimensions, and summarize line-plot measures.
Ideas to explain in your own words
- A larger unit contains a fixed number of smaller units.
- For intervals spanning several hours, split at whole-hour landmarks.
- Rectangle area equals length times width.
- A measurement line plot can support a total of the measured amounts.
Useful vocabulary
- conversion factor
- An exact relationship between two units.
- base
- A reference side length used in a rectangle formula.
Watch your reasoning
- More smaller-unit counts do not mean the measured quantity increased.
- Hour labels use a sixty-minute cycle, not one hundred minutes.
- Area and side lengths have different units.
- Observation count and total measured length answer different questions.
A worked review example
Using 1 meter=100 centimeters, 7 meters is 700 centimeters. The factor one hundred counts centimeters inside each meter. Dividing 700 by 100 returns seven meters, checking the conversion. No extra physical length was created by changing the unit. Write the conversion relation before choosing multiplication. More smaller-unit counts do not mean the measured quantity increased. Make a two-column table pairing one large unit with its fixed small-unit amount.
Make a practice plan
- Convert Larger Units to Smaller Units: Convert 8 feet using 12 inches per foot. Expected: 96 inches.
- Calculate Elapsed Time Across Several Hours: Same morning 8:45 to 11:20 lasts 155 minutes.
- Find a Rectangle Dimension from Its Area: Area 90 square cm, width 9 cm: length 10 cm and perimeter 38 cm.
- Sum Fractional Measurements Including Repeats: Lengths 1/4,1/2,1/4 inch sum to one inch.