Unit conversions are very useful in the
sciences and all types of
engineering. I first learned unit conversions in 9th grade, and have used them since, all throughout
college and at work. This is how it works:
To convert 80 miles/hour to meters/second:
80 miles | 1 hour | 1 minute | 5280.01056 feet | 0.3048 meters |
----------|-------------|------------|-----------------|---------------| = 35.76 meters/second
hour | 60 minutes | 60 seconds | 1 mile | 1 feet |
All of the units in the
numerators and
denominators cancel out except for those desired. Of course, I used a
handbook that had standard measurements like 1 pound = this and 1 btu = that, as in
SI Units.