Convert Your

Systems!Going from metric to

Household to apothecary in 20 easy steps!!

How many

centimeter

s tall are

you?

How many grams do you weigh?

House

hold

Syste

m

O Most familiar in the United States

O Units can be converted among themselves

O Unknown measures can be determined

using proportions or dimensional analysis

BASE Units O Distance/length – inch, foot, yard, mile

O Capacity/volume – drop, teaspoon, tablespoon, ounce, cup, pint, quart, gallon

O Mass/weight – ounce, pound

Metric S

yste

m

O Used outside the United States.

O More accurate

O Based on units of 10 (easier to convert between units)

BASE Units

O Distance/length – meters

O Capacity/volume – liters, ml

O Mass/weight – grams

How many centimeters in 5 ft 5 in.?

165.1 cm

How many kilograms in135 lbs.?

297 kg

“You are to give a patient 1.5 oz. of Pepto Bismal. How many

Tbls. should the patient take?“Step 1: Look up the conversion for ounces to tablespoons.

1 oz. = 2 Tbls.

Step 2: Set up the proportion

2 Tbls x 1.5 oz 1 oz.

Step 3: Solve the problem by multiplying and dividing.

2 x 1.5 = 3 Tbls.

The correct answer is 3 Tbls.

You need to take 450 mcg of aspirin and you have 0.3mg tablets. How many tablets should you take?

450mcg x 1mg 0.3mg 1000mcg

450 x 1 0.3 x 1000

450300

1.5 tablets

A dose of 1.75g is ordered, but the drug comes in 500mg scored tablets. How many tablets should be given?

1.75 g x 1000 mg500 mg 1 g

1.75 x 1000 500 mg

1750 mg 500 mg

3.5 tablets

How many Tbls. are in a 500 mL bottle of cough syrup?

500 mL x 1 Tbls x 1 tsp 1 bottle 3 tsp. 4.93 mL

You know 3 tsp = 1 Tbls and 1 tsp. = 4.93mL so set it up…

500 x 1 x 1 = 500 1 x 3 x 4.93 14.79

33.81 Tbls per bottle

Hands on activity!

1. How many pounds in 150 kg?

2. How many milliliters in 5 teaspoons?3. How many

centimeters in 5 feet 7 inches?

4. How many ounces in 1.232 kilograms?

5. How many cc in 3.75 Tbls?