How to Compare the English Measurement System with the Metric System

More commonly represented by the moniker "imperial," which reflects its use as the official measuring system of the former British Empire, the English measuring system differs dramatically from the metric system in terms of numerical equivalents. Comparing the two systems is therefore less a matter of representing miles as kilometers or pounds as kilograms, but more a matter of identifying similarities in how each system assigns its units and identifying the key elements that differentiate one from the other.

• 1

  Identify broad similarities between the systems. For example, the English system breaks down length and distance measurements into inches, feet and yards, smaller units which make measurement more manageable for those distances not large enough to be measured in miles. Similarly, the metric system divides its kilometers into--in descending order--meters, decimeters, centimeters and millimeters. From there, it divides further into micrometers and nanometers, for microscopically small lengths and distances.

• 2

  Analyze apparent similarities for their inherent differences. The English and metric systems both divide up their mass (or weight) units--the former has the ounce, pound, stone and ton while the latter has the microgram, milligram, gram and kilogram. In addition to the fact that the metric system has far more divisions, you will notice that it has a standard system of nomenclature--mass units always end in "gram" and prefixes like "nano" and "micro" always represent extremely small measures, while "kilo" always represents larger ones.

• 3

  Compare the base measurement each system uses. Returning to length and distance, for instance, the English measurement system holds that there are 12 inches in every foot, of which there are three in every yard. It then side-steps the yard en route to the mile, which is 5,280 feet. There is no discernible base. The metric system, on the other hand, utilizes a base 10 system--there are 10 centimeters in every decimeter, 10 decimeters in every meter and 1,000 meters in every kilometer.