c Which units are you converting? Which is larger?
A
a Greater
B
b Lesser
C
c Lesser
Practice makes perfect
a For this part of the exercise, we are converting minutes to seconds. Let's take a look at the equivalence between them.
1 min = 60 sec
Since it takes 60 seconds to represent the same amount of time as only 1 minute, then the minute unit is larger. Therefore, in each case we convert minutes to seconds, the result in seconds will be greater than the number of original units.
b Now we are converting centimeter to inches. We know that 1 inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters.
2.54 cm = 1 in
We can see that inches are a larger unit since we only need 1 inch to represent the same amount of distance as 2.54 centimeters.
Therefore, each time we convert centimeters to inches, the result in inches will be lesser than the number of original units.
c Finally, suppose we need to convert kilometers per hour to miles per hour. This time we are working with ratio units. However, the only unit we will actually be converting is kilometers to miles. We have the following equivalence between them.
1.609 km = 1 mi
We can see that miles is the larger unit since we only need 1 mile to represent the same amount of distance as 1.609 kilometers.
Therefore, each time we convert kilometers to miles, the result will be lesser than the number of original units. By the Division Property of Equality, we can show the equivalence between kilometers per hour and miles per hour.
1.609 km = 1 mi
⇓
1.609 km/hr = 1 mi/hr
Therefore, when converting kilometers per hour to miles per hour, you can see that the result in miles per hour will be lesser than the number of original units.
