Choosing Appropriate Units of Measurement Worksheets

For most values that express a value of a quantity in is necessary to use a unit of measure to communicate a clear understanding of what you are referring to. The other day one of my colleague told me that he was running 5 every other day. As an avid runner, I assumed he was getting in really good shape because he was running 5 miles every other day. He was really referring to the number of laps he was running in the school gym. This is the equivalent to just over 1/4 mile. That is a significant difference. This is just a simple example of how making sure that you not only pick accurate units for yourself, but also to communicate your message to others. These worksheets and lessons help students identify the proper units to satisfy the word problems they are solving.

Aligned Standard: HSN-Q.A.1

• Milk and Traveling Step-by-step Lesson- What units do you use for a drum of milk and the distance between two cities?
• Guided Lesson - More of a shotgun approach to learning measurement units. A great review though.
• Guided Lesson Explanation - I try to give you a mental picture of everything, but drawing pictures for yourself might be more effective.
• Practice Worksheet - We tuned formula based problems into simple word problem. Make sure to label the units properly.
• Matching Worksheet - Match the outputs to the their product, sum, or difference.

• Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.

Homework Sheets

Units make a huge difference in the real world.

• Homework 1 - Find the most appropriate unit to measure the amount of soup in a bowl.
• Homework 2 - Johnson went to market to buy sugar. Johnson got confused regarding the units of measure. Which unit would be most appropriate to measure the weight of sugar?
• Homework 3 - Identify the most appropriate unit to measure the amount of coffee in a mug?

Practice Worksheets

The existence of several different measurement systems complicates the world a bit.

• Practice 1 - Mack went to market to buy a case of fruit. Mack got confused regarding the units of measure. Which unit would be most appropriate to measure the weight of a case of fruit?
• Practice 2 - Identify the most appropriate unit to measure volume of a carton of orange juice?
• Practice 3 - Find the best unit to measure the weight of a cherry pie?

Math Skill Quizzes

Put it all together here.

• Quiz 1 - A sparrow flies 12 miles in 35 minutes. How long would it take the parrot to fly 6 miles?
• Quiz 2 - Identify the most appropriate unit of measure to measure the volume of a small coffee mug.
• Quiz 3 - What is most appropriate measure to measure the distance between Ethiopia and France?

How to Make Sure You Choose Appropriate Units in?

Using the right units is a crucial step when solving numerical problems. Units give a number a meaning and help us understand exactly what it represents. A number without a unit does not hold any meaning. For instance, you ask a salesperson at a carpet store what size will be best for a rug that you need to place under your living room's center table, and he replies with "55." Now, what is 55? Is it a square inch? Square feet? Or square meters? Yes, we can apply some common sense, but for someone who does not know much, he will have no clue what the salesperson is saying.

So, how to choose appropriate units for just about unit of measurement? It all begins with understanding the different units that are associated with certain quantities. It also depends on local surroundings if you are in a country that use the metric system, metric units apply. Otherwise, Customary Imperial units apply. The most commonly used measurements and their units are:

Length (metric): kilometers (km), meters (m), centimeters (cm), millimeters (mm)

Length (customary): inch (in), foot (ft), yard (yd), mile (mi)

Mass (metric): gram (g), kilogram (kg), ton (t), milligram (mg)

Mass (customary): ounce (oz), pound (lb), ton (tn)

Capacity (metric): liter (l), milliliter (ml), cubic centimeter (cc)

Time: second (sec), minute (min), hour (hr), day (d), month (mo), year (yr)

Once you have a sense of these units it is time to apply them to your daily situation. The first thing you need to do is understand the type of measure that you are referring to. Is it a measure of distance from end to end (length)? Is it the downward force that an object exerts (weight)? Is it how much something can hold (capacity)? Now you can be applying units to it. Once you have identified the units, check whether all quantities have the same units or not. If the units are not the same, you need to carry out conversions. Only when you have converted all units, you can perform the operation the numerical is asking you to carry out.