Suppose there were no units for measuring length. Hypothesize how lengths might be described. Then discuss how measuring length would be different without inches. Finally, discuss why having a range of units for measuring length, such as inches and feet, to choose from is necessary. Hypothesize about the possibility of developing a new standard unit for measuring length. Plan the unit. Explain whether the unit would be shorter than 1 inch, between 1 inch and 1 foot, between 1 foot and 1 yard, between 1 yard and 1 mile, or longer than 1 mile. Express the unit in terms of inches, feet, yards, or miles. Debate the advantages of the new unit.
Units for Measuring Length Response
ReplyDeleteAmelia Hess
If there where no units for measuring lengths people would have to come up with alternative ways for measuring how tall they are and what the distance is to school. Most likely people would have to describe distances as short, medium or long, and describe how tall people are as short, medium or tall. Which isn’t very descriptive and doesn’t help very much. Measuring length without inches would be hard because you couldn’t measure really small things. At the salon it would be hard to tell the people how much hair you wanted cut. It works well having a range of units to choose from because we measure things that are different sizes. Instead of saying that you are 48 inches tall, which is hard to put into perspective, you would say 4 feet. It makes it easier for people to understand how large or small something actually is when you use the correct units based on the size of the object. I think that they should make a unit that is half the size of a foot. Jumping from twelve inches to one foot is a big leap so there needs to be something in-between. This unit would be useful because you wouldn’t have to measure smaller objects by inches and would have a greater understanding of how big they were.
If there weren't any units for measuring length, there would be no way you could measure anything. This is weird but the only thing i could think of would probably be using maybe body parts, like measuring in arms.
ReplyDeleteIf you didn't have inches, then you could measure in feet, and you measure a lot of things in feet and that would be hard to measure everything in centimeters.And also if you don't have inches that make up feet, then you cant measure in yards either, and so on. So inches are very important in the metric system.
there should be a unit thats half the size of a centimeter. It would be useful because, there are lots of things that are that size.Instead of saying the number you can say half centimeter.
If we didn't have units of measurement we would all have to find something common that is consistently the same length. It could be a joint on your finger. It would probably be different in different groups of people. Such as the distance from one part of a town to the other. You have to have a way to measure length and distance because you have to know directions to get places, if you have no way of knowing distance than it would be very hard to give someone directions and to follow directions. Navigation would be very difficult without units of measurement. My unit of measurement would be in multiples of 10. The smallest one would be about 2 inches, the next largest would be 10 of the smallest. The next largest would be 3000 of the second largest, so it would be 60,000 inches or 5000 feet. It would be easier to learn and remember because it is in multiples of 10 much like the metric system. Nobody likes meters and kilometers are too small.
ReplyDeleteIf we didn't have units of measurement, everything would probably be a lot different than it is today because measurements wouldn't be as accurate as they could be. I think that people would have to use their body parts as ways to measure things. I think that you would use the length of an ear, or something like that to measure things because ears don't vary in size as much as other body parts do. Without inches, measuring would be a lot different because you would have to measure smaller things in centimeters, which is harder because there would be a lot of centimeters in each inch that you had to measure. It's very necessary to have different units to choose from because it makes it easier for people measure objects, and it makes the process faster. I think that there should be a unit of measurement for a half of an inch because inches are used a lot, and when something is less than one inch, it is hard to figure out the exact measurement. I think that it would be really useful to have a unit that is half of an inch.
ReplyDeleteIf we lived in a world without units of measurement I think every thing we owned would be disporportioned because nothing would be accurate. I think people would use chips like cheetos to measure things because they dont vary in size and they are about the same lenght. If we didnt have inches i think people wouldnt know how to measure things. It is important to have inches and feet because they determine haow short and how long things would be in the world. I think there should be a unit for an inch and a half because if we measured that way it would be quicker because it is a bigger unit.
ReplyDeleteIf measuring units had never been created, people would have to use comparison when talking about length. i.e. "this table was about 3 of my arms in length and 1 and 1/2 arms width". To me this doesn't mean very much, especially since people's arm length are different.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, having a difference range of lengths is pretty use full. For me, most 'books' (okay, they're really manga) that I read use centimeter when talking about how tall someone is. When someone say that someone is 190 cm, I Don't fully understand what they mean because I haven't remembered what the ratio of centimeters to inches is. Luckily, I can convert the centimeter to inches so that the information actually means something to me.
I think that there should be a measurement that covers both centimeter and inches. that way when you say measurement, everyone can understand what your talking about without getting confused.
If there was no such thing as units for measuring length, you could take an object from nature that is usually the same size. Since this is Georgia, lets consider a peach pit. For example, the width of our math book would be approximately 6 pits. Length would then be based on the object found from nature. It is useful to have a range of units because you would not measure a tic-tac in feet, you would measure it in centimeters! It useful to have larger units to measure a car. My unit, a peach pit would be between 1 inch and 1 foot! This unit would be helpful because many everyday objects are between 1 inch and 1 foot. I would definitely useful for everyday life!
ReplyDeleteIf there was no units for measuring things such as electronics would be different. The sizes of screens would be off and we would not know of things such as a 72" TV. Instead we would probaly use our arms to determine sizes but it wouldnt be very accurate since everyones arms are different sizes. We would probaly replace 12in, with one arm length and then use half arm lengths to determine sizes,. If we didnt have set units to measure with,we wouldnt have ways to know how far away we are when traveling. Buildings would disportional.
ReplyDeleteBrigid
ReplyDeleteIf we didn't have units for length, like inches, feet or miles, we wouldn't be anywhere near as advanced as we are now. We wouldn't be able to do architecture, engineering or even be able to run marathons. We need to be able to measure distance accurately. If we weren’t able to do so, everything would be a ball-park estimate, and while that’s fine for some math problems, you need to know how big a foot is if you are building a foundation for a home.
If I had to make up my own kind of measuring system I would try to do make it so the size of an adults hand is one unit, a size of an adults foot is another and a babies hand or a babies foot is a unit. With this method it would be easy to look at your own hand or foot and guess what size an adult hand is compared to yours. It would be easier than to pull out your ruler for every math problem.
Luke
ReplyDeleteIf there were no units of measurement, I believe that people would describe lengths in terms of objects or people. Although this may be somewhat practical, problems would arise when trying to find exact measurements. Without inches, I think everyone would use the metric system, since inches are such a staple, and maybe even the most used unit of measurement. It is important to have a range of different units so that we are able to use an appropriate unit to measure different distances. For instance saying, "the gas station is 2 miles away," is much more practical than saying, "the next gas station is 10,560 feet away." A new standard unit could be six inches, because many objects are under sixth inches in length, right between 1 inch and 1 foot. Six is easily divisible by 2 and 3. Since 6 doubles into 12 it would also be easily converted into feet. This would be helpful for building scale models, measuring geometrical designs, and a six inch ruler is also much more compact than a 12 inch ruler.
I think that if there were no units of measurement, people would use body parts, like feet and thumbs. And people would measure distance and say that it takes x amount of time to get from a to b so just walk for x minutes. It is necessary to have various unites of measurement because not everything is as big as a foot or is as small as a decimeter. I would say that a good unit to use would probably be about two inches. You can always divide up the amount of space in it and you can always multiply it too. It would be useful because it could cover every important aspect of measurement in one unit.
ReplyDeleteI think that if there were no units of measurement, people would use body parts, like feet and thumbs. And people would measure distance and say that it takes x amount of time to get from a to b so just walk for x minutes. It is necessary to have various unites of measurement because not everything is as big as a foot or is as small as a decimeter. I would say that a good unit to use would probably be about two inches. You can always divide up the amount of space in it and you can always multiply it too. It would be useful because it could cover every important aspect of measurement in one unit.
ReplyDeleteIf there weren't any units of measurement, there would be a lot of confused people. Because if each person had a different form of measuring things, nothing would be consistent.
ReplyDeleteBetween the first and second nuckle on your index finger is about an inch, so people could use that if they wanted to measure something small.
You could use your foot or your arm to measure feet and the width or length of your hand.
But what about people on the other side of the earth, like British people, who already use a different form of measurement?
Would they still go about using the metric system or would they have a totally different measuring system too?