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'Bigger or Smaller?' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/
Why do this problem ?
Conversion between, and use of, units is a critical skill in the
sciences, and one which often leads to confusion.
This
problem will encourage students to understand the relationships
between various types of units, as well as possibly introducing
them to new important scientific units.It will also help to embed
the important skill of checking numerical answers to see if they
make sense in terms of orders of magnitude.
Possible approach
This question works well through discussion in pairs. Remind
the students that common sense works well when dealing with
units.
Key questions
In each case which is the small unit and which is the large
unit?
Possible extension
Extension activities are given in the question. For a more
challenging units question, try
choose
your units.
Possible support
Restrict the question to the parts using common units related to
length.