Applying relationship between units (Unit conversion)

General information
"Apply the relationships between units in the metric system, including the units for measuring different attributes and derived measures." is a part of the Geometry and Measurement area in level 6 of Mathematics and Statistics in the New Zealand curriculum. Sililar to "Measuring at an appropriate level", this is rarely directly assessed in the form of a question, but is a necessary for answering many word questions.

What you need to know
Usually, the "kilo" prefix indicates that the unit is 1000 times the origional unit e.g. one kilometer=1000 meters.

The "mili" prefix indicates that the unit is 1/1000 times the origional unit e.g. one meter=1000 milimeters.

The "centi" prefix indicates that the unit is 1/100 time the origional unit e.g. one meter=100 centimeters.

Keep in mind that if the unit is on more than one dimension e.g. m2, the difference between units will also be multiplied. For example, 1cm=10mm, but 1cm2=100mm2 (102=100). This also applies for cubed units, e.g. 1m3=100*100*100=1000000cm3.

The most common units you will use at this level and the conversions for them are listed down below:

Distance:

1km=1000m

1m=10dm=100cm

1cm=10mm

1m=3.28084(3.3)ft

Area:

1km2=1000000m2

1m2=10000cm2

1cm2=100mm2

1ha=10000m2

1ac=4046.86(4000)m2

Time:

1day=24hrs

1hr=60mins

1min=60secs

1sec=1000ms

Volume:

1L=1000mL

Mass:

1t=~1000kg

1kg=1000g

1g=1000mg

1lb=453.592(450)g

Practice Questions
These are some questions we have come up with to help. (the answers can be found in the next section of this page)
 * 1) Convert 535 cm into meters (m).
 * 2) Convert 3.5 m2 into centimeters squared (cm2).
 * 3) What is the area of a square with side length 50cm? Give the answer in square meters.
 * 4) Bob studies for 0.5 minutes on Monday and 0.2 minutes on Tuesday. How long does he study for in total? (Give the answer in seconds)

Answers
1: 5.35m

2: 35000cm2

3: 0.25m2

4: Bob studies for 42 seconds in total.

Helpful links
The following are some links you might find helpful, checked so that there is no requirement for registration.

https://www.calculator.net/conversion-calculator.html (convert between units using this)

https://www.wikihow.com/Convert-Units (Great tutorial)

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-fifth-grade-math/cc-5th-measurement-topic/cc-5th-unit-conversion/e/converting-units (practice questions)