US Customary units : Length

Customary units or US Standard Units are the units of measurement that are used in the United States; different from the metric units used here in Brazil.

The first Customary units that we'll learn are the ones we use to measure length. These measures can answer questions such as: How tall are you? How big is your table? How wide is the classroom board?

We'll talk about inches (in.), feet (ft.), yards (yd.) and miles (mi.).

• inches are small units of length. The last joint of your finger or thumb is about 1 inch (depending on how big your fingers are!). Lots of things are measured in inches from rainfall to paper length.

       If you have 12 inches of something, you have a foot.

       

                       12 inches = 1 foot

• A long time ago, people had to use their own feet to measure things.  However, since everyone has different sized feet, it did not let everyone understand the size or distance in the same way. 

Using 12 inches put together to make feet allows for everyone to have a more accurate picture of what exactly a "foot" of length is.

• If you have 3 feet together, you have a yard.

3 feet = 1 yard

• When you put together 1,760 yards, you have a mile. 

1,760 yards = 1 mile

Miles are long distances and are mostly used to measure the distance between places which are far away from each other.  Most people refer to miles when they are driving, biking or jogging.

Remember:

1 foot = 12 inches

1 yard = 3 feet = 36 inches

1 mile = 1,760 yards = 5,280 feet = 63,360 inches

Here's a video that talks about Customary units:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqSHf4dfa4s