Video Transcript
Use less than, equal to, or greater than to fill in the blank: 13 square decimeters blank 200 square centimeters.
In order to compare our two values, we need to ensure that our units are the same. We know that one decimeter is equal to 10 centimeters. A square of side length one decimeter will have an area of one square decimeter as one multiplied by one is one. An identical square with dimensions given in centimeters will have an area of 100 square centimeters. This means that one square decimeter is equal to 100 square centimeters.
We could’ve worked out this conversion by squaring both sides of the original conversion. To convert from square decimeters to square centimeters, we multiply by 100. 13 multiplied by 100 is 1300.
As 1300 square centimeters is greater than 200 square centimeters, 13 square decimeters must also be greater than 200 square centimeters. The correct answer is greater than.