Meters, Centimeters

Date: 03/12/2001 at 21:41:35
From: amber palubicki
Subject: Elementary math on algorithms

1 meter stick is ___ times as long as 2 centimeters?

I'm not sure how to figure this out. I get really confused in this 
area. Please help me!

Amber

Date: 03/13/2001 at 09:29:24
From: Doctor Patti
Subject: Re: Elementary math on algorithms

Hello Amber,

Thank you for writing to Dr. Math.

The creepy, crawly centipede has 100 legs.... so I've been told, but 
have never counted. (Although the name centipede means 'hundred-
legged, the average is actually about 35 pairs of legs...'"  
(Encyclopedia.com, http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/02481.html   ). 

"Centi" means 100. There are 100 centimeters in every meter.

   1 meter = 100 centimeters

Let's look at 25 centimeters.  We are going to rephrase your question:

   1 meter stick is ___ times as long as 25 centimeters

There are four "groups" of 25 in 100 (25, 50, 75, 100). This comes 
from the fact that 

      100 / 25 = 4
So
      1 meter stick is _4_ times as long as 25 centimeters

You can check this answer by seeing if

          4 * 25 = 100

Yes, this is true.

Try to apply this reasoning to your question.  You can check your 
answer by seeing whether the product of your answer and 2 is equal 
to 100.

Please write back if you have any other questions.

- Doctor Patti, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/