1. Measurement and Estimation Length / Distance
MCOM 520
Ryan Connors

2. History of Measurement
What is measurement?

3. The English System of Measurement – Length/Distance
How do we measure length and distance in the English System?
Inch, Foot, Yard, Mile
There are 3 feet in a yard, and 5,280 feet in a mile. How many yards are in a mile?
The answer is 5,280/3 = 1,760 yards
If a football field is 100 yards and there are 1,760 yards in a mile, how many football fields are in a mile?
The answer is 1,760/100 = 17.6 football fields

4. The Metric System of Measurement – Length/Distance
Who uses this form of measurement?
What are some examples of units of distance in the Metric System?
Units of measure in the Metric System are based on one unit of measure
Length is based on the meter
The meter is around 3 feet

5. Metric System - Length Millimeter – “milli” means Thousandth
So a millimeter is actually 1 meter/1000.
Centimeter – “centi” means Hundredth
So, a centimeter is actually 1 meter/100.
Decimeter – “deci” means Tenth
So, a decimeter is actually 1 meter/10
Decameter – “deca” means Ten
So a decameter is actually 1 meter X 10
Hectometer – “hecto” means One Hundred
So, a hectometer is actually 1 meter X 100
Kilometer - “kilo” means One Thousand
So a kilometer is actually 1 meter X 1000

6. Metric System - Length
How many millimeters are in a kilometer?
There are 1,000 millimeters in a meter, and a kilometer is 1,000 meters. So, the answer is X 1000 = 1,000,000 millimeters
How many centimeters are in a kilometer?
There are 100 centimeters in a meter, and a kilometer is 1,000 meters So the answer is 100 X 1000 = 100,000 centimeters

7. Metric Measurement
How wide is the tennis ball in centimeters?
The answer – the left side of the ball appears to start at 50 centimeters. The right side of the ball seems to end at 57 centimeters = 7 centimeters!
Bonus question: Can you figure out how many tennis balls would equal a meter?

8. Estimation What is estimation?
Educated guess – Webster’s dictionary describes an educated guess as “a guess based on knowledge and experience, making it more likely to be correct”

9. Keyboard Estimation Exercise
Take out your paper rulers!
Which side is centimeters?
Which side is inches?

10. Keyboard Estimation Exercise
Measure the first three keys on the top left hand corner of the main section of keys on your keyboards. (~, 1, 2) in centimeters and inches.
Enter the values into the corresponding columns on your worksheets

11. Keyboard Estimation Exercise
Can you estimate the length of your keyboards?
Enter the estimated total length of your keyboards in the corresponding columns on your worksheets

12. Summary
The English system of length measurement uses the inch, foot, yard and mile.
The Metric system of length is based on the meter. It uses the millimeter, centimeter, decimeter, decameter, hectometer, and the kilometer.
We can use estimation to gain knowledge about the size of objects when we have limited resources to measure

13. Please complete the worksheet for the remainder of the class!

14. Citations
Scientific Method and Measurement. United Learning (1993). Retrieved March 4, 2008, from unitedstreaming:
Discovering Math: Measurement (Grades 3-5). Discovery Channel School (2005). Retrieved March 4, 2008, from unitedstreaming:
Worm on ruler image: