NursingABC™

Equality of Units


When doing conversions of a quantity from one set of units to another set of units, one should understand that the original quantity and the quantity to which it is to be converted (we'll call that the new quantity) are equivalent quantities expressed in different units. The quantities will have different magnitudes (numerical values) and different units but will be equivalent to one another. Think about the three examples below:

8 quarts = 2 gallons 72 inches = 6 feet = 2 yards 4000 pounds = 2 tons
In each of these examples, the quantities are equivalent (the same) but the numbers expressing the amount (magnitudes) are different in each, as are the units.

Link to next section - American Units