Let’s follow along with an example problem. Let’s say that we’re converting a recipe from imperial to metric units for a European friend. [3] X Research source If the recipe calls for eight ounces of chicken, we would write “8 ounces” on our paper.
In our example problem, 8 ounces × 28. 35 = 226. 8 grams of chicken. Don’t forget to label your answer “grams. “[5] X Research source If you’re doing this for school, you may lose points if you forget the label.
In our example problem, 8 ounces × 28. 35 = 226. 8 grams of chicken. Don’t forget to label your answer “grams. “[5] X Research source If you’re doing this for school, you may lose points if you forget the label.
In our example above, if we wanted to be super-accurate about the amount of chicken in the recipe, we would multiply 8 × 28. 349523125 = 226. 796185 grams — a very small difference.
In our example above, if we wanted to be super-accurate about the amount of chicken in the recipe, we would multiply 8 × 28. 349523125 = 226. 796185 grams — a very small difference.
Let’s use the method in this section to convert 8 ounces to grams again. 8 × 30 is the same as 8 × 3 (24), plus a 0 (240).
In our example, 10% of 240 is 24 (we just took the 0 off).
Half of 24 is 12. 240 - 12 = 228 grams. This pretty close to our original answer (226. 8 grams) — especially for not using a calculator.
Let’s say that we’re doing a chemistry experiment and that, at the end of our reaction, we get 1. 23 ounces of product. To start converting this to grams, we would write it like this: 1. 23 ounces/1 Don’t forget to label the ounces in the numerator. It’s important for this kind of conversion.
In our example, we would multiply like this: 1. 23 × 1 = 1. 23 1 × 0. 035 = 0. 035 So our final fraction is 1. 23/0. 035
In our example, we would multiply like this: 1. 23 × 1 = 1. 23 1 × 0. 035 = 0. 035 So our final fraction is 1. 23/0. 035
In our example problem, we can cancel out the two “ounces” because they appear once on the top and once on bottom. This leaves us with grams. To get our answer, we just divide 1. 23/0. 035 = 35. 14 grams.
Let’s say that we forgot how to convert from ounces to grams, but we do know that there are 16 ounces in a pound, 2. 2 pounds in a kilogram, and 1,000 grams in a kilogram. This is enough to get us our answer. We would arrange our ratios like this: 1. 23 ounces/1 × 1 pound/16 ounces × 1 kilogram/2. 2 pounds × 1,000 grams/1 kilogram All the units cancel out except for grams, so these are the units for our answer. Now we just need to solve: = (1. 23 × 1,000)/(16 × 2. 2 ×) = 1,230/35. 2 = 34. 94 grams (almost the same as our original answer)
