Conversion of units

Conversion of units is the conversion between different units of measurement for the same quantity, typically through multiplicative conversion factors which change the measured quantity value without changing its effects. Unit conversion is often easier within the metric or the SI than in others, due to the regular 10-base in all units and the prefixes that increase or decrease by 3 powers of 10 at a time. The process of conversion depends on the specific situation and the intended purpose. This may be governed by regulation, contract, technical specifications or other published standards. Engineering judgment may include such factors as: The precision and accuracy of measurement and the associated uncertainty of measurement. The statistical confidence interval or tolerance interval of the initial measurement. The number of significant figures of the measurement. The intended use of the measurement including the engineering tolerances. Historical definitions of the units and their derivatives used in old measurements; e.g., international foot vs. US survey foot. Some conversions from one system of units to another need to be exact, without increasing or decreasing the precision of the first measurement. This is sometimes called soft conversion. It does not involve changing the physical configuration of the item being measured. By contrast, a hard conversion or an adaptive conversion may not be exactly equivalent. It changes the measurement to convenient and workable numbers and units in the new system. It sometimes involves a slightly different configuration, or size substitution, of the item. Nominal values are sometimes allowed and used. The factor-label method, also known as the unit-factor method or the unity bracket method, is a widely used technique for unit conversions using the rules of algebra. The factor-label method is the sequential application of conversion factors expressed as fractions and arranged so that any dimensional unit appearing in both the numerator and denominator of any of the fractions can be cancelled out until only the desired set of dimensional units is obtained.