MEASUREMENTS
Measurement
Measurement refers to the comparison of an unknown quantity with a known quantity. The result of the measurement is a numeric value with certain units. We can measure the length, mass, capacity (volume), and temperature of any given object. Let us learn more about it in this article.
What is Measurement?
Measurement is defined as the system or act of measuring. It can be understood as a process of defining physical items using numbers. For example, "this rod is bigger than that rod". This statement is serving a very limited purpose of comparison where we do not know anything about the individual attributes of the given rods. But if we say that the length of the first rod is 20 inches, and the length of the second rod is 15 inches, therefore 1st rod is bigger than the second one by 5 inches. This statement is making more sense mathematically and offers us a reason for our deduction.
In mathematics, measurement is often considered as a separate branch as it includes a wide range of knowledge including conversion, units, measuring length, mass, time, etc. It is associated with other branches as well like geometry, trigonometry, algebra, etc. We use the concept of measurement with the shapes (area, volume, etc), measuring heights and distances using trigonometric ratios is also a type of measurement (trigonometry), and measurement can also be done using unknown quantities or variables to establish a general relationship (algebra). Now, before learning about measurement units, let us learn the abbreviations that are generally used to represent units of measurement.
| Measurement Unit | Abbreviated as |
|---|---|
Centimeters Meters Kilometers Millimeters Miles Yards Feet/Foot Inches | Cm m km mm mi yd ft in |
Milligrams Grams Kilograms Centigrams Pounds Ounces Tonnes Ton | mg g kg cg lbs oz t (used in the Metric system) t (used in the Imperial system) |
liters milliliters kiloliters fluid ounce cup pint quart Gallon | l ml kl fl oz c pt qt gal |
Kelvin Fahrenheit Celsius | K °F °C |
You can go ahead and explore all important topics in measurement by selecting the topics from this list below:
| Reading a Calendar | Metric Conversion Chart |
| Length Conversion | Unit Conversion |
| Temperature Converter | Reading and Representing Time |
Measurement Units
There are various units of measurement depending on its type. For example, the measurement units of length are meters, centimeters, inches, feet, etc. For mass, we have kilograms, grams, pounds, tons, etc. There is a way to classify various measurement units into two types: Metric System and the U.S Standard System (Imperial System of Measurement). In each of these systems, we use different units for each type of measurement. When millimeters, centimeters, meters, and kilometers are measurement units of length under the metric system, inches, feet, yards, and miles are the units under the US standard system. Look at the chart below showing the categorization of different measurement units in these two systems of measurement.
Measurement Conversion
When we have to compare the values of the given quantities or perform arithmetic operations on them, we need to have a common unit of measurement. For example, we can add 12 meters to 10 meters to get 22 meters of length, but we cannot add 12 meters to 10 inches. In those cases, we need to know and use 'measurement conversion' to convert the given units into a common unit. Whether it is length, mass, temperature, or time, we have some formulas that can be used to get the values in a common unit. Given below is a measurement chart that can be used for such conversion.
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