Anyone know if we have to fully memorize any specific unit conversions?
The first question on Achieve was a conversion from mi/gal to km/L, would we have to know in our heads what 1 mile is in km or 1 gal to L or would this be provided/can we look it up in the future?
Memorizing Units
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Re: Memorizing Units
I'm not entirely sure whether or not we need to have unit conversions memorized but for this specific problem on Achieve, I solved it without having the unit conversions memorized. Since the given units are mi/ gal, you would select the choice with mi and multiply that as the denominator to cancel out the given mi and put km as the numerator to replace the mi. Similarly, you would multiply gal on top to cancel out the given gal and multiply L on the bottom to replace it. This would result in km/ L for the answer. I think this question focuses more on knowing how to cross cancel units rather than having actual conversions memorized.
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Re: Memorizing Units
I think the point of the first question on achieve was for us to just get used to doing dimensional analysis, making sure that we can convert from a set of units to another set of units. Like Emily said, cross canceling units is really important and my TA on the first day of discussion even stressed that dimensional analysis and canceling units can often times be a struggle for future, more complex problems and for us to focus on fully understanding it.
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Re: Memorizing Units
I think most complex unit conversions will likely have some sort of trick (in this case dimensional analysis which cancels out) that makes it easier. Some simpler unit conversions we will definitely have to know, like converting between metric units (i.e picometers to centimeters).
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Re: Memorizing Units
I'm not sure we have to memorize the specific unit conversions you mentioned in your question. I think those were just an example to get used to the setup of Achieve. However, I would assume that we do have to memorize unit conversions between micro, nano, pico, mega, giga, etc...
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Re: Memorizing Units
I agree with what our other peers have said. It most likely was to get us used to dimensional analysis so we know we've done a problem correctly when we have the correct measuring unit at the end. However, that does mean we'll have to remember some of the more basic conversions (like kg to g). Though I don't think we'll have to memorize very difficult conversions.
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Re: Memorizing Units
For unit conversions, the typical conversions that we will usually do will probably get easier as the year continues and we practice. Those will likely be memorized either naturally or for tests. More complex conversions might have information given in the problem, but the best advice would be to track your units throughout a problem.
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Re: Memorizing Units
I think that more uncommon unit conversion factors will be given. I do think that the metric system prefixes are something we are expected to have down (ex mL to L, g to mg). I've ended up memorizing a bunch of conversion factors just from use in other courses, and I think that if we had any necessary to memorize, that we would see them in class first.
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