What is the basis of the metric system?

Answer 1

The metric system is based on multiples of ten, but there are a few other interesting details.

It was invented in conjunction with the French Revolution, which also introduced a new calendar, new holidays, and all sorts of other things that didn't catch on so well. They wanted a measuring system that was completely logical and rational.

They started with the meter, which was 1 / 10,000,000 of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole on a line running straight north and south through Paris. (It was the FRENCH revolution, after all.) 1000 meters was a kilometer, 1/100 of a meter was a centimeter, and so on.

They defined their basic unit of weight, the gram, as the weight as one cubic centimeter of water. The basic unit of volume was the liter, defined as 1000 cubic centimeters. This basic correlation between weight, volume, and distance makes shifting from one to another very easy, for any everyday purpose.

Unfortunately, they weren't entirely correct about the distance from the Equator to the Pole. The standard gram weight they created wasn't exactly the weight of one cubic centimeter of water. And so on. The meter, gram, and liter we have now are therefore just arbitrary; they don't exactly correspond to each other the way those who designed the metric system wished. They're close enough, though, that only those who need calculations accurate to a small fraction of a percent have to worry about the differences.

Answer 2

Well, see, we Brits love the Metric system. I find it a bundle easier than the Customary one. See, the basis of the Met. system for you Americans is that it is all in ones, add or take zeros on the end, like this- 10 millimeters=1 centimeter

100 centimeters=1 meter

1000 meters=1 kilometer

Wonderful talking with you Red white and blue chaps! And off I go to Stratford Bridge to see the players on the pitch-i'm a blue fan!

Answer 3

The metric system is in base 10, things are counted using tens; but the units tend to set out in thousands. a metre is divided into millimetres, 1m=1000mm, and multiplied into kilometres, 1km=1000m.

There are prefixes for divisions and multiples of 10 and 100,but, except for centimetres, these aren't generally used.

Answer 4

The metric system is based on the number 10.

This is because we have 10 fingers and our counting system (decimal) is based off of that fact. We have 10 digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. After that, we start to make numbers based off of numbers we already have. 10, 35, 8172 and so on.

Answer 5

The metric system is based on the decimal system, with measurements being based on powers of ten. It uses prefixes such as kilo, centi, and milli to denote multiples or fractions of a unit. The International System of Units (SI) is the modern form of the metric system and is used globally for standardizing measurements.

Answer 6

Kilogram

Meter

Second

Ampere

Answer 7

Ten