Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Conversion of units" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification. The symbols km, m, and s represent kilometer, meter, and second, respectively.ĥ km s ⋅. The following example demonstrates how the unity bracket method is used to convert the rate 5 kilometers per second to meters per second. So as long as the numerator and denominator of the fraction are equivalent, they will not affect the value of the measured quantity. Also, if the numerator and denominator of a fraction are equal to each other, then the fraction is equal to one. Because of the identity property of multiplication, the value of a quantity will not change as long as it is multiplied by one. The unity bracket method of unit conversion consists of a fraction in which the denominator is equal to the numerator, but they are in different units. Nominal values are sometimes allowed and used.Ī conversion factor is used to change the units of a measured quantity without changing its value. It sometimes involves a slightly different configuration, or size substitution, of the item. It changes the measurement to convenient and workable numbers and units in the new system.
It does not involve changing the physical configuration of the item being measured.īy contrast, a hard conversion or an adaptive conversion may not be exactly equivalent. This is sometimes called soft conversion. Some conversions from one system of units to another need to be exact, without increasing or decreasing the precision of the first measurement. Historical definitions of the units and their derivatives used in old measurements e.g., international foot vs.
The process of conversion depends on the specific situation and the intended purpose. See also: Dimensional analysis Process overview