⚡ Productivity2024-12-17•4 min read
Unit Conversion: Essential Reference Guide
Quick reference for common unit conversions in length, weight, temperature, and more.
📌 Key Takeaways
- ✓Metric system is based on powers of 10
- ✓Temperature has three main scales: C, F, K
- ✓US uses imperial; most world uses metric
- ✓Data storage uses binary prefixes (1024, not 1000)
Why Units Matter
Using the wrong units can lead to costly mistakes. In 1999, NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because one team used metric and another used imperial units!
Length Conversions
| From | To | Multiply By |
|---|---|---|
| Inches | Centimeters | 2.54 |
| Feet | Meters | 0.3048 |
| Miles | Kilometers | 1.609 |
| Yards | Meters | 0.9144 |
💡 Quick Tip: A meter is about 3 feet 3 inches. A kilometer is about 0.6 miles.
Weight/Mass Conversions
| From | To | Multiply By |
|---|---|---|
| Pounds | Kilograms | 0.4536 |
| Ounces | Grams | 28.35 |
| Stones | Kilograms | 6.35 |
Temperature Conversions
Celsius to Fahrenheit: (C × 9/5) + 32 Fahrenheit to Celsius: (F - 32) × 5/9 Celsius to Kelvin: C + 273.15
Quick Reference Points
| Description | °C | °F | K |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water freezes | 0 | 32 | 273 |
| Room temp | 20-22 | 68-72 | 293-295 |
| Body temp | 37 | 98.6 | 310 |
| Water boils | 100 | 212 | 373 |
Data Storage
Digital storage uses binary (base-2) prefixes:
| Unit | Bytes | Common Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 KB | 1,024 | Kilobyte |
| 1 MB | 1,048,576 | Megabyte |
| 1 GB | 1,073,741,824 | Gigabyte |
| 1 TB | 1,099,511,627,776 | Terabyte |
⚠️ Marketing vs Reality: Hard drive manufacturers use decimal (1 GB = 1 billion bytes), but computers use binary. That's why your "1 TB" drive shows ~931 GB.
Metric Prefixes
| Prefix | Symbol | Factor |
|---|---|---|
| kilo | k | 1,000 |
| mega | M | 1,000,000 |
| giga | G | 1,000,000,000 |
| milli | m | 0.001 |
| micro | μ | 0.000001 |
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Last updated: 2024-12-17