Max Maths, Year 4, Learn together, Converting units of length (2)

In the Max Maths curriculum for Year 4, students are introduced to the concept of converting units of length. A practical example is provided to show how to convert millimetres to centimetres. Students learn that to perform this conversion, they need to divide the length in millimetres by 10. For instance, a line measuring 120 mm can be converted into centimetres by dividing 120 by 10, resulting in a length of 12 cm. To aid in understanding, a diagram is presented which illustrates that dividing by 10 changes millimetres into centimetres, and conversely, multiplying by 10 converts centimetres back into millimetres.

Building on this knowledge, the material then explores converting metres to centimetres. Students are reminded that 1 metre is equivalent to 100 centimetres. Therefore, to convert from metres to centimetres, they must multiply the number of metres by 100. As an example, a sign that is 3 metres high would be calculated as 3 multiplied by 100, giving a total of 300 centimetres. This exercise reinforces the conversion process between different units of length, providing a clear method: divide by 10 to change millimetres to centimetres and multiply by 10 to do the reverse, while multiplying by 100 when converting from metres to centimetres.