Video Transcript
Write the following in metric tons:
2650 kilograms.
How should we go from kilograms to
metric tons? First, we remember that one metric
ton is 1000 kilograms. So we’ll take the information that
we know: one metric ton equals 1000 kilograms, and we’ll set up a proportion. Because one metric ton is the same
weight as 1000 kilograms, this fraction has a value of one.
Now, we’ll multiply 2650 kilograms
by the ratio of one metric ton over 1000 kilograms. After we multiply, we’re left with
something that looks like this: 2650 over 1000. Reducing this fraction gives us
2.65. You can simplify or reduce this
fraction by dividing 2650 by 1000.
There’s still one piece of
information that we haven’t dealt with yet; what happened to the units when we did
this multiplication? There are kilograms in our
numerator and kilograms in our denominator. Those units cancel each other out,
which leaves us metric tons. 2650 kilograms equals 2.65 metric
tons.
