Length | Standard Units

Just before you begin the quiz, let's do some revision.

REVISION

Length, as we have learned in the previous quiz, is the measurement of how long something is. It can also be regarded as the distance between one point and another point. Look at the matchstick below.

The first point is the bottom part of the match stick and the second point is the tip-head of the matchstick and the length will be the distance between these two points. So, you see, measuring length is about measuring distances between two points whether its a long or short distance.

In the olden days, different countries used different measurement systems. This caused confusion and disagreement and because of that, standard units for measuring length were invented to solve the problems. There are two kinds of standard units for measuring length. They are:

In Nigeria, we officially make use of the metric system but that's is not entirely popular among the people. Some people, especially the elderly, still use a part of the imperial measurement in their everyday calculations of length. Can we blame them, no! they just can't forget what the colonial masters taught them. For example, cloth sellers, tailors, still use yards to measure the length of clothes, bricklayers, masons, still use inches and feet to measure the length of their constructions.

For the purpose of this quiz, we will dwell more on the Metric system of measurement. The metric system of measurement is also called the SI system (Standard International) and its unit of measurement of length is 'meter. Earlier, I mentioned that length is all about finding the distance between two points. To find the length, we need gadgets like:

How to Measure

Before we begin to measure with a ruler or any of the gadgets above, its important that we understood the relationship between the units in the metric system. In the SI system, we have the Metre, Millimetre, Centimetre, Decimetre for short distances and Kilometre for a long distance.