Solving Multistep Unit Conversion Problems

Check your answer. Are the units correct Does the answer make physical sense  

The units, mi, are correct. The magnitude of the answer is reasonable. A mile is longer than a kilometer, so the value in miles should be smaller than the value in kilometers. 

The units, mm, are correct and the magnitude is reasonable. A millimeter is shorter than a meter, so the value in millimeters should be larger than the value in meters. 

Which conversion factor would you use to convert a distance in meters to kilometers  

When solving multistep xmit conversion problems, we follow the preceding procedure, but we add more steps to the solution map. Each step in the solution map should have a conversion factor with the units of the previous step in the denominator and the units of the following step in the numerator. For example, suppose we want to convert 194 cm to feet. The solution map begins with cm, and we use the relationship 2.54 cm = 1 in to convert to in. We then use the relationship 12 in. = 1 ft to convert to ft. 

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SKILLBUILDER 2.10 Solving Multistep Unit Conversion Problems... 

In this chapter, you have seen a few examples of how to solve numerical problems. In Section 2.6, we developed a procedure to solve simple unit conversion problems. We then learned how to modify that procedure to work with multistep unit conversion problems and problems involving an equation. We will now sirni-marize and generalize these procedures and apply them to two additional examples. As we did in Section 2.6, we provide the general procedure for solving nmnerical problems in the left colmnn and the application of the procedure to two examples in the center and right columns. 

EXAMPLE 2.13 Solving Multistep Conversion Problems Involving Units Raised to a Power... 

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