unit convertion

[Tiffanny_Carranza_2D]

when converting a unit fir example 5.11x10^-4CM to meters do we just mulitply by 10^-2? i got the correct answer doing this but I would just like some reasurance that it is the right way to do it?

[Akshata Kapadne 2K]

Yup! I usually divide by 100 since there are 100 cm in 1 meter, but multiplying by 10^-2 is the same thing.

[Stuti Pradhan 2J]

Yes, that is correct! Think about it like (5.11x10^-4 cm) x (10^-2m/cm). That way the units cancel and you get the right conversion.

Hope this helps!

[gabbi_r2C]

Yes you can multiply by 10^-2, as it is the same thing as dividing by 100 like you would in dimensional analysis; if you're not sure, this method is actually a very easy way to keep track of how units cancel out in a calculation, and to ensure you end up with the proper units at the end.

[Crystal Hsueh 2L]

Yes! You can also divide by 100 when converting from centimeters to meters. But when doing other conversions that are a bit more complicated like nanometers to meters (which isn't complicated but you don't want to divide by 1000000000) you can divide by 10^9. When converting from meters to nanometers you would multiply by 10^9.