Some students seem to be having a hard time with metric length conversion. I am going to explain how they were taught in class so you can help reteach this skill at home.
When converting mm to cm , cm to mm, dm to m, or m to dm, the whole is equal to 10 parts . (1cm=10mm and 1m=10dm) You will be either multiplying by 10 (moving the decimal one digit to the right), or dividing by 10(moving the decimal one digit to the left). You are multiplying by ten when you're converting a larger measurement to a smaller measurement. (6 cm would be 10x6=60mm or 5m would equal 5x10=50dm). You are dividing by ten or moving 1 decimal place to the left when you are converting from a smaller unit measurement to a larger unit measurement. (50mm would be 50/10 =5cm or 78mm would be 78/10=7.8cm or 28dm would be 28/10=2.8m)
When converting from cm to m, or m to cm, the whole is equal to 100 parts. (1m=100cm) You will now either be multiplying by 100 (moving the decimal two digits to the right), or dividing by 100 (moving the decimal two digits to the left). You are multiplying by 100 when you're converting a larger measurement to a smaller measurement. (6 m would be 100x6=600cm or 5m would equal 5x100=500cm). You are dividing by 100 or moving 2 decimal places to the left when you are converting from a smaller unit measurement to a larger unit measurement.
(78cm would be 78/100 =.78m or 5cm would be 5/100=.05m or 5,862cm would be 5,862/100=58.62m)
I hope this helps.
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