How to Convert Units of Measurement

revised 16 Feb 2009 Copyright 20002011 by Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems Summary: You can convert units easily and accurately with one simple rule: just multiply the old measurement by a carefully chosen form of the number 1. This page explains how to choose, with lots of examples. Contents:

Introduction The Big Secret Multiply by 1:

Is This Really Multiplying by 1? Be Reasonable!

How to Pick a 1 Where to Find Conversion Factors:

Chaining Conversions Example 1: miles per hour to kilometers per hour Example 2: miles per second to miles per hour Example 3: kilometers/hour to meters per second Example 4: square feet to square meters

Compound Units:

Recap of the Procedure But My Calculator Has a Convert Key! Some Troubles:

Temperatures Impossible Conversions

Practice Problems Whats New

Copying: Youre welcome to print copies of this page for your own use, and to link from your own Web pages to this page. But please dont make any electronic copies and publish them on your Web page or elsewhere.

Introduction
If youre in a car moving at 60 miles an hour, is that faster or slower than 60 feet per second? If you want to convert 60 miles to kilometers, the conversion factor is 1.61, but do you multiply or divide?

Everybody finds these questions confusing, not just students. Yet if you use a little algebra, they are easy to answer. You can do any conversion, quickly and reliably. This article shows you how. This page is about converting units yourself. If youve just come here to do a particular conversion and you dont care about the method, I recommend Google Calculator, which lets you type an expression using the in operator and get the conversion. Heres a simple form:
Top of Form

6145 mi in km

Bottom of Form

The Big Secret

The method for converting units comes right from one simple principle: Numbers with units, like 16.2 meters or 32 ft/sec, are treated exactly the same as coefficients with variables, like 16.2x or 32y/z. Once you grasp this, you see at once why the laws of units work as they do. You cant add 32 ft to 32 ft/sec, any more than you can add 32x to 32x/y. And when you divide 32 miles by 4 hours to get 8 miles/hour, thats exactly the same as dividing 32x by 4y to get 8x/y.

Multiply by 1
To convert units, theres only one other thing you need to bear in mind: You can multiply anything by 1 and not change its value. Obvious, right? So why mention it? I hear you ask. Because multiplying by 1 a carefully chosen form of 1 is the key to converting units. Let me illustrate with an example. Ill deliberately pick an easy one, one you could probably do in your head, so that I can show the steps excruciatingly clearly. Suppose you want to convert four and a half hours to minutes. Of course you know that
60 minutes = 1 hour

Now divide both sides by 1 hour. (Remember you can do this because you treat the unit hour just like a variable. If you had 60x = 1y, you could 60 minutes certainly divide both sides by 1y.) After dividing, you have ---------1 hour

Why did I do that? Because if (60 min)/(1 hr) = 1, then I can multiply any measurement by that fraction and not change its value. (Ill explain a little later why I divided through by 1 hr and not 60 min.) So go back to the 4 hours that we wanted to convert to minutes. To do the conversion, simply multiply by that well-chosen form of 1: which is the same as Now, x times y/z is the same as xy/z, so our units expression is the same as
4.5 hr 1 60 min 4.5 hr -----1 hr 4.5 hr 60 min --------------1 hr

Notice that you have hours (hr) in both top and bottom. Just as you would divide through by x when x was in both top and bottom, so you can divide 4.5 60 min through by the variable hr: -------------1

which multiplies out to

270 min

Summary: to convert units, construct a fraction that is equal to 1, multiply the original measurement by that fraction, and simplify.

Is This Really Multiplying by 1?

But wait a minute! I hear you say. You started with 4.5 and ended up with 270. How is that multiplying by 1? The answer is that we didnt start with a dimensionless pure number 4.5, but with 4.5 hours; and we didnt end up with a pure number 270 but with 270 minutes. You should be able to convince yourself that if you bake a turkey for 270 minutes or 4 hours, either way you wait the same length of time for dinner. A number with units is different from a number without units or with different units, just as 8x is different from both 8 and 8y. Think of it this way: 3.27 dollars or euros is the same as 327 cents, when you multiply by the carefully chosen form of 1, 100 cents/dollar or 100 cents/euro. If the top and bottom of the fraction are equal, the fraction equals 1 and the value after multiplying is the same as the value before multiplying but expressed in different units, which of course is the whole point. You might be asking yourself, Why all the fuss? Anybody knows that to convert hours to minutes you have to multiply by 60. Well, yes, thats true. But I deliberately chose a simple example to show the method. Ill try to use more realistic (i.e., harder) examples from here on.

Be Reasonable!
If you follow the procedures on this page, it will be impossible for you to multiply by a conversion factor where you should divide, or vice versa. But we all make careless mistakes, so its good to have a rough and ready check on your work. You can always apply this rule: if the containers are small, you need more of them to hold the same total. For example, an hour is longer than a minute, so you expect 4.5 hours to convert to some larger number of minutes. If you ended up with 0.075 minutes, you would know you had made a mistake. In any math work, its always best to work a problem two different ways, to guard against careless errors. But second best is to work the problem carefully and apply some test for reasonableness, like this one.

How to Pick a 1
You might be wondering how I knew to pick that particular fraction that was equal to 1. There are just two simple steps:
1. Find a conversion factor between the given units and the desired units, and write it as an

equation. Example: whether you have miles and need kilometers, or you have kilometers and need miles, you can use either conversion factor between miles and kilometers, namely 1 mi = 1.61 km or 1 km = 0.621 mi. Either equation will work equally well.

2. Convert that equation to a fraction with the desired units on top and the given units on

the bottom. More formally, divide both sides by the value of the side that contains the given units. (Actually, this rule is oversimplified, as well see below.) Example: To convert from miles to kilometers, you need a fraction with the desired units (kilometers) on top and the given units (miles) on the bottom. Based on the above conversion factors, that fraction must be either
1.61 km ------1 mi or 1 km -------0.621 mi

Those fractions look different, but remember that theyre both equal to 1 and therefore they are just different forms of the same fraction. Either one will work just fine for the conversion. Once youve selected a useful fractional form of 1, multiply the original measurement by the fraction, and simplify. Example: If the original measure was 15.7 miles, you would multiply by either of the above fractions and obtain 25.3 km.

Where to Find Conversion Factors

I dont just pull the conversion factors out of my hat. Many books have tables of conversions, including the venerable Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. There are also several good sources on line. My favorite is at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, <http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Publications/appxc.cfm>, though the sheer mass of information can be overwhelming. Looking at such references, you may note that this article uses common abbreviations like sec (seconds) and hr (hours), rather than the official abbreviations (s and h, respectively). That is deliberate, since most students are more familiar with the longer forms. In scientific work, youd be expected to use the official forms.

Chaining Conversions
If you can remember some conversions, you may be able to combine them to avoid looking up a specific conversion. If you have a calculator handy, it can be faster to do extra arithmetic than to go to a reference and look up a single conversion factor. For example, how many meters are in the 440-yard dash? To convert 440 yards to meters, you could look up the conversion factor between yards and meters. But if you happen to remember that 1 in = 2.54 cm and 36 in = 1 yd, its probably faster just to use those (plus 100 cm = 1 m) than to look up the single conversion factor. This means you multiply by three different forms of 1:
36 in 2.54 cm 1 m 440 yd ----- ------- -----1 yd 1 in 100 cm

and collect terms to

440 36 2.54 yd in cm m -------------------------100 yd in cm

Doing the arithmetic, and dividing top and bottom by yd, in, and cm, you have the answer, 402 m. Having started with 440 yd and multiplied by 111, you know that the initial value equals the final value:
440 yd = 402 m

Your own example might be different: you may happen to remember different conversions than I do. But if you commit a few factors to memory, you will find that by combining them you can avoid looking up a whole lot of conversions.

Compound Units
What about more complex units, like converting miles per hour to kilometers per hour, or even miles per hour to feet (or meters) per second? You use the same technique and multiply by a well-chosen fraction that equals 1, only you need to do it for each unit to be converted. Its just a more general form of chaining, which you already know how to do. The following examples take you through progressively more complicated situations:
1. mi/hr ==> km/hr illustrates a straight conversion with the per hour units unchanged. 2. mi/sec ==> mi/hr is another single conversion, but this time the units to be converted are

in the denominator so step 2 in picking a fraction is a little different.

3. km/hr ==> m/sec shows how to do two conversions on the same quantity. 4. sq ft ==> sq m shows what to do when units are raised to a power.

Example 1: miles per hour to kilometers per hour

This problem can be solved using either 1 mi = 1.61 km or 1 km = 0.621 mi. Ill work it both ways, in parallel. To start, write the original measurement as a fraction:
11.6 mi ------hr

Going from mi/hr to km/hr, you see that you end up with the same denominator you started with, so only the numerator has to change units. In other words, this is just our old friend miles ==> kilometers, with the per hour tagging along unchanged. So the conversion is the same one youve done before. Simply pick a fraction with the desired units (km) on top and the given units (mi) on the bottom:
11.6 mi 1.61 km ------- ------hr 1 mi or 11.6 mi 1 km ------- -------hr 0.621 mi

As you see, you can use either conversion factor, miles to kilometers or kilometers to miles. It doesnt matter because, by forming a fraction equal to 1, you automatically make the right choice between dividing and multiplying. Going on to simplify the fractions, you have
11.6 1.61 mi km ----------------hr mi or 11.6 mi km ----------0.621 hr mi

Either way, divide top and bottom by mi and you have

11.6 1.61 km -------------hr

or

11.6 km -------0.621 hr

Do the arithmetic to get 18.7 km/hr either way.

Example 2: miles per second to miles per hour

Escape velocity from the earths surface is about 7.0 mi/sec. What is that in mi/hr? Here again, youre converting only one unit, seconds to hours (1 hr = 3600 sec), and the miles per is just along for the ride. But whats different here is that the units youre converting are in the denominator of the fraction, not in the numerator. Look what happens if you apply the old rule of desired units on the top: and you end up with
7.0 mi 1 hr ------ -------sec 3600 sec 7.0 mi hr -----------3600 sec sec

This is no good: you cant simplify this fraction to remove the seconds (sec). Rule 2 in picking a fraction, as originally stated, only applied when the units to be converted were in the top of the fraction (or not in a fraction at all). Heres the more general form of Rule 2, the form that will always work: when picking your fraction that equals 1, put the given units in the opposite position from where they are in the original measurement. If the original measurement had the given units on the top, your 1fraction will have them on the bottom; but if the given units are on the bottom of the original measurement then your 1-fraction must have them in the top. Do this so that you can divide top and bottom by the given units when simplifying. Lets come back to the example, 7.0 mi/sec converted to mi/hr, and do it the right way: Write the conversion equation:
1 hr = 3600 sec

The given units (sec) are in the denominator (bottom) of the original measurement, so sec must be in the numerator (top) of the conversion fraction: Multiply the original measurement by 1:

Ah, thats much better! Now you can divide top and bottom by sec: Multiply 7 by 3600 to get your final answer, to two significant figures:

3600 sec -------1 7.0 mi 3600 sec ------ -------sec hr 7.0 3600 mi ------------hr 1 = about 25,000 mi/hr

Example 3: kilometers/hour to meters per second

A race car has a top speed of 310 km/hr. What is that in m/sec? For this example youll combine chaining multiple conversions with the new and more general form of Rule 2 for picking the fraction. You have two conversions to do, kilometers to meters and hours to seconds. 1 hr = 3600 sec

You know the conversion factors: In converting km to m, the given units (km) are on top, so in the conversion fraction km will be on the bottom. By contrast, in converting hr to sec, the given units (hr) are on the bottom so the conversion fraction will have hr on the top. To do two conversions, you multiply by two fractions (1 1): Now divide top and bottom by hours (hr) and by kilometers (km): and do the arithmetic to obtain the answer:
1 km = 1000 m 310 km 1000 m 1 hr ------ ----- -------hr 1 km 3600 sec 310 1000 m -----------3600 sec 310 km/hr = 86 m/sec

Example 4: square feet to square meters

Sometimes you have to deal with squared units. In the US, you often see them with a sq prefix. But they are actually easier to manipulate if you treat them just like variables (again!) and use the sign. I correspond with a friend outside the US, and we are describing our homes to each other. If my apartment measures 850 square feet, what is that in square meters? In other words, convert 850 ft to m. Solution: I need a fraction equal to 1, with m on the top and ft on the bottom. The way to obtain that is to form a fraction equal to 1 with plain m on the top and plain ft on the bottom, and then square it (since 1 = 1). As it happens, I dont remember the conversion from feet to meters, but I do remember the conversions between both of them and inches: So I construct my fraction in two steps:
1 ft = 12.00 in 1 m = 39.37 in 1 = 1 1 1 m 12.00 in 1 = ------- -------39.37 in 1 ft 12.00 m 1 = -------39.37 ft 0.3048 m 1 = -------ft ( 0 Now remember that the original measurement is in ft. Therefore I must .3048 m ) multiply the original measurement, 850 ft, by the square of the above fraction, 850 ft to get ft in the denominator and match the ft in the original measurement: ( -------- ) ( ft ) When a fraction is squared, thats the same as squaring the top and squaring the 850 0.3048 ft m

bottom, including units:

------------------ft m

Divide through by ft top and bottom, and do the arithmetic to get the answer: 850 ft = 79 What about cubic measure? How many cubic feet is 12 cubic yards? Its exactly the same deal, except that youll need to cube your well-chosen form of 1 to do the conversion. Start with 1 yard = 3 feet, so your fraction is (3 ft)/(1 yd): This simplifies to
3 ft 12 yd ( ---- ) 1 yd 12 3 yd ft --------------1 yd 12 27 ft 12 yd = 324 ft

Recap of the Procedure

In a nutshell, do all conversions of units by multiplying the original measurement by a wellchosen form of the number 1. A bit less briefly:
1. Find the conversion factor for the given and desired units, and write it as a fraction with

the given units in the opposite position from the original measurement. (If the original measurement has the given units in the numerator, the conversion fraction needs them in the denominator, and vice versa.) The value of that fraction is 1, since the top and bottom are equal.
2. If the given units are raised to a power, raise the conversion fraction to that same

power.
3. Multiply the original measurement by the conversion fraction, and simplify.

But My Calculator Has a Convert Key!

So? sooner or later youll have to convert a measurement with units that arent in your calculator. At that point a lot of students start to guess, and the more complex the units the more likely theyll guess wrong. If you understand what youre doing, using the techniques on this page, youll have smooth sailing. You can also use these same techniques to do currency conversions, which are probably not on your calculator because the rates fluctuate. See the practice problems. (The currency convertor at xe.com is a great tool for when youre on line.) 1. TABLES OF METRIC UNITS OF MEASUREMENT In the metric system of measurement, designations of multiples and sub-divisions of any unit may be arrived at by combining with the name of the unit the prefixes deka, hecto, and kilo meaning, respectively, 10, 100, and 1000, and deci, centi, and milli, meaning, respectively, onetenth, one-hundredth, and one-thousandth. In some of the following metric tables, some such multiples and sub-divisions have not been included for the reason that these have little, if any currency in actual usage.

In certain cases, particularly in scientific usage, it becomes convenient to provide for multiples larger than 1 000 and for subdivisions smaller than one-thousandth. Accordingly, the following prefixes have been introduced and these are now generally recognized: yotta, zetta, exa, peta, tera, giga, mega, kilo, hecto, deka, (Y), (Z), (E), (P), (T), (G), (M), (k), (h), (da), meaning 1024 meaning 1021 meaning 1018 meaning 1015 meaning 1012 meaning 109 meaning 106 meaning 103 meaning 102 meaning 101 deci, centi, milli, micro, nano, pico, femto, atto, zepto, yocto, (d), (c), (m), (u), (n), (p), (f), (a), (z), (y), meaning 10-1 meaning 10-2 meaning 10-3 meaning 10-6 meaning 10-9 meaning 10-12 meaning 10-15 meaning 10-18 meaning 10-21 meaning 10-24

Units of Length 10 millimeters (mm) 10 centimeters 10 decimeters 10 meters 10 dekameters 10 hectometers = 1 centimeter (cm) = 1 decimeter (dm) = 100 millimeters = 1 meter (m) = 1000 millimeters = 1 dekameter (dam) = 1 hectometer (hm) = 100 meters = 1 kilometer (km) = 1000 meters Units of Area 100 square millimeters (mm2) 100 square centimeters 100 square decimeters 100 square meters 100 square dekameters 100 square hectometers = 1 square centimeter (cm2) = 1 square decimeter (dm2) = 1 square meter (m2) = 1 square dekameter (dam2) = 1 are = 1 square hectometer (hm2) = 1 hectare (ha) = 1 square kilometer (km2) Units of Liquid Volume 10 milliliters (mL) 10 centiliters 10 deciliters 10 liters 10 dekaliters 10 hectoliters = 1 centiliter (cL) = 1 deciliter (dL) = 100 milliliters = 1 liter1 = 1000 milliliters = 1 dekaliter (daL) = 1 hectoliter (hL) = 100 liters = 1 kiloliter (kL) = 1000 liters Units of Volume

1000 cubic millimeters (mm3) 1000 cubic centimeters 1000 cubic decimeters

= 1 cubic centimeter (cm3) = 1 cubic decimeter (dm3) = 1 000 000 cubic millimeters = 1 cubic meter (m3) = 1 000 000 cubic centimeters = 1 000 000 000 cubic millimeters Units of Mass

10 milligrams (mg) 10 centigrams 10 decigrams 10 grams 10 dekagrams 10 hectograms 1000 kilograms

= 1 centigram (cg) = 1 decigram (dg) = 100 milligrams = 1 gram (g) = 1000 milligrams = 1 dekagram (dag) = 1 hectogram (hg) = 100 grams = 1 kilogram (kg) = 1000 grams = 1 megagram (Mg) or 1 metric ton(t)

2. TABLES OF U.S. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT2 In these tables where foot or mile is underlined, it is survey foot or U.S. statute mile rather than international foot or mile that is meant. Units of Length 12 inches (in) 3 feet 16-1/2 feet 40 rods 8 furlongs 1852 meters = 1 foot (ft) = 1 yard (yd) = 1 rod (rd), pole, or perch = 1 furlong (fur) = 660 feet = 1 U.S. statute mile (mi) = 5280 feet = 6076.115 49 feet (approximately) = 1 international nautical mile Units of Area3 144 square inches (in2) 9 square feet 272-1/4 square feet 160 square rods 640 acre 1 mile square 6 miles square = 1 square foot (ft2) = 1 square yard (yd2,) = 1296 square inches = 1 square rod (sq rd) = 1 acre = 43 560 square feet = 1 square mile (mi2) = 1 section of land = 1 township = 36 sections = 36 square miles

Units of Volume3 1728 cubic inches (in3) 27 cubic feet = 1 cubic foot (ft3) = 1 cubic yard (yd3)

Gunter's or Surveyors Chain Units of Measurement 0.66 foot (ft) 100 links 80 chains = 1 link (li) = 1 chain (ch) = 4 rods = 66 feet = 1 U.S. statute mile (mi) = 320 rods = 5280 feet Units of Liquid Volume4 4 gills (gi) 2 pints 4 quarts = 1 pint (pt)= 28.875 cubic inches = 1 quart (qt) = 57.75 cubic inches = 1 gallon (gal) = 231 cubic inches = 8 pints = 32 gills Apothecaries Units of Liquid Volume 60 minims (min or 8 fluid drams 16 fluid ounces ) = 1 fluid dram (fl dr or f ) = 0.225 6 cubic inch = 1 fluid ounce (fl oz or f ) = 1.804 7 cubic inches = 1 pint (pt or ) = 28.875 cubic inches = 128 fluid drams = 1 quart (qt) = 57.75 cubic inches = 32 fluid ounces = 256 fluid drams = 1 gallon (gal) = 231 cubic inches = 128 fluid ounces = 1024 fluid drams Units of Dry Volume5 2 pints (pt) 8 quarts 4 pecks = 1 quart (qt) = 67.200 6 cubic inches = 1 peck (pk) = 537.605 cubic inches = 16 pints = 1 bushel (bu) = 2150.42 cubic inches = 32 quarts

2 pints 4 quarts

Avoirdupois Units of Mass6 [The "grain" is the same in avoirdupois, troy, and apothecaries units of mass.] 27-11/32 grains 16 drams 16 ounces 100 pounds 20 hundredweights = 1 dram (dr) = 1 ounce (oz) = 437-1/2 grains = 1 pound (lb) = 256 drams = 7000 grains = 1 hundredweight (cwt)7 = 1 ton = 2000 pounds7

In "gross" or "long" measure, the following values are recognized: 112 pounds 20 gross or long hundredweights = 1 gross or long hundredweight7 = 1 gross or long ton = 2240 pounds7

Troy Units of Mass [The "grain" is the same in avoirdupois, troy, and apothecaries units of mass.] 24 grains 20 pennyweights 12 ounces troy = 1 pennyweight (dwt) = 1 ounce troy (oz t)= 480 grains = 1 pound troy (lb t) = 240 pennyweights = 5760 grains Apothecaries Units of Mass [The "grain" is the same in avoirdupois, troy, and apothecaries units of mass.] 20 grains 3 scruples 8 drams apothecaries 12 ounces apothecaries = 1 scruple (s ap or ) ) )

= 1 dram apothe-caries (dr ap or = 60 grains = 1 ounce apothecaries (oz ap or = 24 scruples = 480 grains = 1 pound apothecaries (lb ap) = 96 drams apothecaries = 288 scruples = 5760 grains

3. NOTES ON BRITISH UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

In Great Britain, the yard, the avoirdupois pound, the troy pound, and the apothecaries pound areidentical with the units of the same names used in the United States. The tables of British linear measure, troy mass, and apothecaries mass are the same as the corresponding United States tables, except for the British spelling "drachm" in the table of apothecaries mass. The table of British avoirdupois mass is the same as the United States table up to 1 pound; above that point the table reads: 14 pounds 2 stones 4 quarters 20 hundredweight = 1 stone = 1 quarter = 28 pounds = 1 hundredweight = 112 pounds = 1 ton = 2240 pounds