Measurement

The ability to measure correctly is a necessity in life. Measurement is all around us. It is much more than just using a ruler; a clock is used to measure time, thermometer to measure temperature, ammeter to measure electrical current. Even preparing dinner often requires volumetric measurements. In class the focus will however be primarily on linear measurement. It will be necessary to measure to 1/16th inch using English units. In seventh and eighth grade, metric measurements will also be necessary to 1 millimeter. Due to this, measurement is taught at all three grade levels. Below you will find helpful information regarding measurement.

English Measurement

First of all, English measurement may be known by other names: customary, standard, US customary, Standard American English (SAE), Imperial, etc. In class we will refer to these units as "English." This includes inches, feet, and pounds. The system has been in existence for over a thousand years with origins from a variety of cultures – Babylonian, Egyptian, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman French. The history of how some of our common measurements came to be can be fascinating. One foot being equal to 12 inches was a contribution from Ancient Rome. A year was originally the circumference of a person's waist. Later King Henry I decreed that a yard should be the distance from the tip of his nose to the end of his outstretched thumb. The seemingly odd measurement of one mile being equal to 5280 feet comes from Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. The length of a furlong (or furrow-long) was established by early Tudor rulers as 220 yards. The Queen replaced the traditional Roman mile of 5000 feet with one of 5280 feet, making the mile exactly eight furlongs and providing a convenient relationship between the furlong and the mile. Most likely few people reading this even know what a furlong is!

Metric Measurement

The metric system has a much shorter story. The notion of a worldwide standardized system of weights and measures was proposed over 300 years ago. During the French Revolution the French Academy of Sciences was tasked with creating a better system, which led to the development of the metric system. It was not widely accepted at first, but began to spread to other countries quickly after France made its use required by law in 1840. Being a "base 10" or decimal based system made it easier to use than the English system and well suited for scientific and engineering work.

Measurement Resources

Again, classes will primarily focus on linear measurements using inches and millimeters. Below are some tools to help you measure correctly and opportunities to practice and enhance your measurement skills.

English Measurements - Parts of an Inch:

Reducing Fractions To Simplest Form

Any time a fraction is written in class (which would only be for English measurements), it should be written in simplest form. The illustration above displays the fractions in simplest form, however the ability to reduce a fraction to simplest form is a valuable skill to have. Dividing a fraction by two is a simple and effective method to find simplest form. Simply find half of the numerator (top number) and half of the denominator (bottom number). If the numerator is odd (for English measurements), you are in simplest form. And remember... ANY number over itself is equal to 1. See the examples below.

Reduce 8/16 to simplest form... Reduce 4/16 to simplest form... Reduce 14/16 to simplest form...

Step 1: Divide the numerator and denominator by 2 Step 1: Divide the numerator and denominator by 2 Step 1: Divide the numerator and denominator by 2

8/2=4 and 16/2=8... leaving us with 4/8 4/2=2 and 16/2=8... leaving us with 2/8 14/2=7 and 16/2=8... leaving us with 7/8

The numerator is still even, so we repeat this step The numerator is still even, so we repeat this step The numerator is now odd, so this is the final answer

Step 2: Divide the resulting numerator and denominator by 2 Step 2: Divide the resulting numerator and denominator by 2 Answer: 14/16 is equal to 7/8 in its simplest form

4/2=2 and 8/2=4... leaving us with 2/4 2/2=1 and 8/2=4... leaving us with 1/4

The numerator is still even, so we repeat this step The numerator is now odd, so this is the final answer

Step 3: Divide the resulting numerator and denominator by 2 Answer: 4/16 is equal to 1/4 in its simplest form

2/2=1 and 4/2=2... leaving us with 1/2

The numerator is now odd, so this is the final answer

Answer: 8/16 is equal to 1/2 in its simplest form