Mathematical tools

unit conversion

Ms. Arra C. Quitaneg

TOOLS
LANGUAGE
MATHEMATICS
PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
quantities which describe
matter
Fundamental Quantities
Derived Quantities

Units and unit conversion

QUANTITY

SYMBOL

UNIT

Length

m (meter)

Mass

kg (kilogram)

Time

s (second)

Electric current

A (ampere)

Temperature

K (Kelvin)

Typical Lengths or
Distances
Length or
Meters
distance
Size of an
1 x 10-10 m
atom
Size of a red 8 x 10-6 m
blood cell
Typical height 1.75 m
of a person

Typical Masses
Object
Mass (kg)
DNA
10-17 kg
molecule
Bacterium
10-15 kg
Mosquito
10-5 kg

measurement
Measurement of any
quantity is made relative to a
particular standard or unit.
This unit must be specified
along with the numerical value
of the quantity.

 Metric system is based on the meter as the standard

unit of reference. It is a decimal system and has a
common multiplier and divisor of 10.
Example: 7 millimeters is 0.7 centimeter

9000 grams is 9 kilograms

English system is based on the foot as the standard

unit of reference.
Example: 0.583333 feet is 0.19444 yard

Prefixes used for units

Tera
Giga
Mega
kilo
hecto
deka

T
G
M
k
h
da

1012
109
106
103
102
101
100

deci
centi
milli
micro
nano
pico
femto

d
c
m

n
p
f

10-1
10-2
10-3
10-6
10-9
10-12
10-15

Unit conversion exercises:

Convert the following:
1. 25 m to _____ km
2. 300 km to ______ nm
3. 28 Ms to _______ms
4. 5 dm to _______m
5. 10 dm to ______nm
6. 500 m/s to _______km/h
7. 800 g to ________ kg
8. 200 L to ______ mL
9. 35 cm/s to _____ m/s
10. 56 hm to _____m

Seatwork
Convert the following:
1. 5 km to _____ m
2. 23 nm to ______ km
3. 50 Ms to _______ms
4. 10 m to _______dm
5. 15 mm to ______nm
6. 45 m/s to _______km/h
7. 45 kg to ________ mg
8. 500 mL to ______ L
9. 35 m/h to _____ cm/s
10. 180 dm to _____m

English System
1 inch
1 foot
1 yard
1 mile
1 ounce
1 pound
1 acre
1 tablespoon
1 gallon

Metric System
2.54 centimeters
30.48 centimeters
0.91 meter
1.61 kilometer
28.35 grams
0.45 kilogram
0.40 hectare
3 teaspoons
3.79 liters

1. Whats the length of the 100 m dash expressed in

yards?
2. A round cell membrane has an area of 1.25 square
inches. Express this in square centimeters.
3. The posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour, what is
this speed in a) meters per second (m/s) and b)
kilometers per hour.
4. A typical atom has a diameter of about 1 x 10-10 m.
What is this in inches?

application
DOSAGE CALCULATION

Note: Units for required dose and stock dose

must be the same

examples
How many tablets containing 62.5 g will be required to
give a dose of 0.125 mg?
A client is ordered 2.5 grams of Neomycin sulphate.
500 milligram tablets are available. How many tablets
will you give?

 FLUID DOSAGE

Examples:
1. A client is ordered 15 mg of stemetil. You have
2mL of solution on hand which contains 25 mg
Stemetil. What volume of solution should you
give?
2. A client is ordered 50 mg of Aminophylline
intravenously. 250 milligrams in 10 milliliters of
liquid for IV injection is available. How many
milliliters will you administer?