Multistep Conversions

Sometimes, the relationship available to you may not have the exact units you want. For example, in relating kilometers to miles, you might be given the relationship or conversion factor between meters and miles. But you can make adjustments within the metric system fairly easily. It just makes two problems instead of one--change miles to meters and then meters to kilometers.

Consider this example (Ex. 18 in your workbook):

How many centimeters are in 4.0 yards?
4.0 yards	x	36 inches 1 yard	x	2.54 cm 1 inch	=

If you happened to know how many centimeters there are in a yard, this would not be the way to do this problem. The first conversion factor changes yards to inches. The second conversion factor changes inches to centimeters. In the calculation yards cancel and inches cancel, leaving us with centimeters.

Now take some time to work through the problems in the next quick quiz.

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E-mail instructor: Eden Francis