Likewise, a millimeter is 1/1000 meters (since “milli-” means “one-thousandth”) and a kilometer is 1000 meters (since “kilo-” means “one thousand”).
The decimal point always appears between the “ones” (to its left) and “tenths” (to its right) place values in a number. In 82. 5, for example, 2 is in the ones place and 5 is in the tenths place. If your starting measurement is written as a fraction, such as 872 ½ cm, rewrite it in decimal form as 872. 5 cm. Similarly, 4 ¼ cm equals 4. 25 cm, and 4 ⅓ cm is approximately 4. 33 cm.
If your starting measurement is 63 cm (that is, 63. 0 cm), sliding the decimal 2 spaces to the left results in 0. 63. Therefore, 63 cm = 0. 63 m.
Similarly, 0. 3 cm = 0. 003 m.
For instance, converting from 82. 5 to 0. 825 involves shifting the decimal point 2 place values to the left, which is the same as dividing by 100.
There’s no obvious decimal point here, but remember that 7890 is the same as 7890. 0. Move the decimal point 2 spaces to the left to get your answer: 7890 cm = 78. 90 m. Completing a long division calculation for 7890 / 100 confirms this result.
However, if your starting measurement is 23 m, the decimal point is inferred to be after the 23. If you wish, you can rewrite 23 m as 23. 0 m.
2. 3 m = 230 cm (add zeros to the right as needed) 0. 45 m = 45 cm 12. 2 m = 1220 cm 0. 01 m = 1 cm
So, 82. 5 x 100 = 8250, with the decimal point shifted 2 places to the right (which is equal to the number of zeros in 100). Similarly, 82. 5 x 10 = 825 and 82. 5 x 1000 = 82500.
Rewrite 16 as 16. 0 so you can visualize the decimal point. Add another zero to the end (16. 0 → 16. 00) so you can slide the decimal point 2 places to the right. Therefore, 16 m = 1600 cm. Henry needs 1600 cm of fencing. Multiplying 16 x 100 confirms this result.
