Chapter 3 Units of Measurement

Many professions require practitioners to work with measurements. Whether you are a carpenter, mechanic, or nurse, you may need to measure quantities like distance, volume, and time. Different systems of measurement are used for each of these quantities. Within each system, different types of units are used. The most common units used are metric units.

For instance, cubic centimeters (cc’s) or milliliters are a volume measurement that might be used to describe an amount of drug solution administered to a patient. A pill might be administer in milligrams. The dosage might be specified as an amount per kilogram of patient weight.

Picture of a syringe with scale in milliliters
Syringe with a scale in milliliters.

Proper dosing requires knowledge of the metric system and conversion between different units of measurement. In this short chapter, you will learn to

  • Use dimensional analysis to make conversions with metric and U.S. measurement systems.

Skill in converting measurements is critical in many professions and this chapter will help you to gain these skills.

Section 3.1 – The Metric System

Section 3.2 – Dimensional Analysis

Chapter 3 Practice Solutions (PDF) – 9/7/19

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