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Considering
...
...that one has so much to learn and
so many cumbersome variables with the following example: (American units)
1 cup 1/2 pint 8 fl. ounces
2 cups 1 pint 16 fl. ounces
3 cups 1-1/2 pints 24 fl. ounces
2 pints 1 quart 32 fl. ounces
4 quarts 1 gallon 128 fl. ounces
or: (American, British)
12 inches 1 foot
3 feet 1 yard
or for that matter:
5,280
feet=1 mile or 2915.55 kilometres (or the other way, 1 kilometer is .6213 of a
mile)
...it is no wonder that many adults do not remember without having to think
about it, that 32 fl. oz. is a quart, 128 fl. oz. a gallon, let alone 5,
280 feet is a mile. Quickly, what is three fourths of a quart or a mile?
The metric system is a decimal system of units. So common cooking units of
measure approximating the purpose of the above would be:
(using
250 ml. for one standard cup
liquid
measure)
1 cup 1/4 l. (litre) is 250 ml.
2 cups 1/2 l.
is 500 ml.
3 cups 3/4 l.
is 750 ml.
4 cups 1
l. is
1000 ml.
(1 l. is 1 quart + 3-1/2 tablespoons)
10 millimetres is:
1 centimetre
1 cm. (centimetres)
is 100 mm. (millimetres)
25 cm. is 250 mm. (or 1/4 of a meter)
100 cm. is 1 meter or about 0.91
of
a yard
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(cont.)
And
1 kilometre is 1000 meters.
The numbers may look larger, but the increments are neat and tidy.
Easy to remember and logical. And it takes no great calculation to know that three fourths of a litre is 750 ml. and three fourths of a kilometre is 750 metres.
So you see basic units of measure are based on 1, 10, 100, 1000, which will remind you of basic mathematics and the decimal system. Why have one system for everyday use and one for science, medicine and mathematics?
Units of Measure Summary:
litre, millilitre - units of liquid volume
gram, kilogram - units of weight
centimetre, metre, millimetre - units of length
kilometre - unit of distance
British, American, Canadian:
fl. ounces, pints, quarts, gallons - units of liquid volume
ounces, pounds, stone (14 pounds- English) - units of weight
inches, feet, yards - units of length
mile - unit of distance
(pints, quarts are sometimes used as solid measures as in strawberries along with pecks and bushels)
The above does not reflect old traditional measures as the English gill (1/2 UK 10 oz. cup or 2/3 of US 8 oz cup) or other such regional measures.
(cont. P2)
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Epicurean Table
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The numbers may look larger, but the increments are
neat and tidy. Easy to remember and logical. And it takes no great calculation,,,
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3 Second Quiz:
Quickly,
what is three fourths of a quart or a mile? |
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Trivia
Corner |
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Stone -
equals 14 lbs.
An antiquated
English measure for (human) weight.
A gill (jill from
OF) is 1/4 of a pint. An English liquid
measure used only in the brewery trade.
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