# Metric System



## audreyt (May 23, 2006)

Does anyone know any good practice books to study the metric system before I start school? Or any other good books to help me get a better understanding of the school I am getting myself into.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Don't need to. 10 yrs ago, the wife and I were in Italy, and we both bought stuff there. Me a leather jacket, she a leather purse. At the time everything was in Lira, and it didn't make sense to us. I just looked for the best leather jacket with the cheapest price, somewhere around 200,000 Lira. My wife kept on trying to convert back to CDN$ and was getting more and more frustrated. In the end she made a mistake with calculations and bought a purse, but only to find next day at a different store the same purse at a better price. Spoiled the whole trip...

Thing is, don't bother trying to convert. If the recipie calls for 1200 grams of this, you scale out 1200 grams. Don't confuse yourself by converting back to imperial weights, or god forbid, imperial volume measurements. If it calls for 21/2 liters, measure out 21/2 liters. Just as 100 pennies make up a dollar, 1000 grams make up a kilo and 1000 milliliters make up a liter. A quart is almost a liter, and a pound is under half a kilo, but these are only rough comparisons. 

For temperature, it couldn't be any simpler: Water boils exactly at 100 C and freezes excatly at 0 C. Everyone has seen boiling water and icecubes, so it shouldn't be that hard to relate to.

Once you start using metric, especially with scaling out ingredients in baking, you'll never go back. Ask any professional in healthcare or science if they would want to back to Imperial measurements, you'll get a resounding NO!


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## diane (Mar 24, 2006)

In NZ we changed overnight from Imperial to Metric. (10th July, 1967). Money, weights, temperatures, volume, distance, the lot. I was obstetric nursing at the time, and just cannot remember there being any fuss. You will find it much easier than you anticipate. I still think in both metric and imperial, and it gives me no problems. I cannot do what my son did when we were in Europe. He could convert anything to anything, in an instant without a calculator, didn't matter what the currency was. Or which one he converted to some other. Some countries still retain their own currencys. But he had to see the morning exchange rates first. Sometimes even small shifts can save you money. As for an educational book, I think it is a good idea to purchase a childrens primer. They are always so clear, and cheap.


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