Putting It Together: Measurement

At the beginning of this module, you were lost in Paris surrounded by unfamiliar units of measurement.  Now that you know a little more about measurement and how to convert among units, you can get your travel plans sorted out in no time.

Let’s begin with deciding what to wear.  You know the temperature on the Celsius scale is 18°, but you are much more familiar with the Fahrenheit scale. Convert Celsius to Fahrenheit in the following way:

$F={\large\frac{5}{9}}C+32$

$F={\large\frac{5}{9}}\left(18\right)+32$

$F=42$

Therefore, 18°C is 42°F.  You knew that the temperature was above freezing, which is 0°C, but now you have a better sense of just how cold it is based on your experiences.  A warm jacket might be appropriate, and perhaps a beret since you are in France.

Now that you know what to wear, you would like to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower which is about 300 meters tall.  Remember that meters can be used to measure height or distance.  Related units of measurement in the U.S. Customary system include yards, feet, and inches.  You want to compare the height of the Eiffel tower and the Empire State Building, but you only know the height of the Empire state Building in feet. You can convert from meters to feet to make the comparison.

$1m\approx3.28ft$

${\Large\frac{1m}{3.28ft}}={\Large\frac{300m}{x}}$

$x\approx984ft$

The Eiffel Tower is about 984 ft tall.  If the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet, it is a bit taller than the Eiffel Tower.

After touring around Paris, you decide to drive to the city of Bordeaux.  You read that it is 565 km away.  You are familiar with driving distances in miles, so you decide to convert kilometers to miles.

$1mi\approx1.61km$

${\Large\frac{1mi}{1.61km}}={\Large\frac{x}{565km}}$

$x\approx350mi$

If you drive at 60 miles per hour, how long will the trip take?

${\Large\frac{350mi}{60mph}}\approx5.83h$

You will need to plan for about 6 hours of driving. It would not be a day trip so you will need to make plans to stay overnight.

The last thing you need to plan for is gasoline. How many liters of gasoline will you need to buy if the rental Fiat 500 uses 4.8 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometer?

$\large\frac{4.8\text{L}}{100\text{km}}\normalsize{\times 565\text{km}=27.12\text{L}}$

You are pleased that you will only need to fill the 35 L tank once to get to Bordeaux and once to get back.

Now you are dressed, have done some sightseeing, and you are on your way to a new adventure.  Thanks to a little understanding of measurement and unit conversions, you have taken the mystery out of traveling.  So go enjoy!