Question

Question #a28f9

Answer 1

It is how to convert from one unit to another.

Explanation:

For example, there are 1,000 grams in 1 kilogram. That's a conversion factor.

Others include:

• 100 centimeters in 1 meter.
• 60 seconds in 1 minute.
• Etc.

Conversion factors are used in dimensional analysis to convert from one unit to another easily.

For example, say we need to know how many millimeters are in 1.3 kilometers.

Step 1: Use the conversion factor of kilometers to meters

`cancel"1.3 kilometers"*(("1,000 meters")/(cancel"1 kilometer"))="1,300 meters"`

Notice how the units of kilometers cancel out (1 is on top, other is on bottom).

Step 2: Use the conversion factor of meters to centimeters.

`cancel"1,300 meters"*(("100 centimeters")/(cancel"1 meter"))="130,000 centimeters"`

Again, the units of meters cancel out and the unit we are left with is centimeters, which hasn't gotten canceled by anything.

Step 3: Use the conversion factor of centimeters to millimeters.

`cancel"130,000 centimeters"*(("10 mm")/(cancel"1 cm"))="1,300,000 millimeters"`

OPTIONAL: This process can all be done in one continuous string by just combining all of the steps above into 1 like so:

`cancel"1.3 kilometers"((cancel"1,000 m")/(cancel"1 km"))((cancel"100cm")/(cancel"1 m"))(("10 mm")/(cancel"1 cm"))="1,300,000 mm"`

Hope this helps!