The metric system provides a universal standard of measurement. It is a decimal system scaled on the powers of 10. Pick up a metric ruler and look carefully at the scale. You will see many little lines, and every so often a much longer line marked with a number. The longer lines are centimeter (cm) marks, and the shorter lines are one tenth of a centimeter (0.1), or millimeter marks. 1. Obtain a small ruler marked in centimeters and millimeters. Using your metric ruler, draw a line that is seven centimeters long. Put a small mark on the line for each centimeter length. 2. Draw a line that is seven millimeters long. 3. What do you notice about the relationship between the lengths of these lines? (What part of a centimeter is one millimeter?) 4. a. Measure the length of the following line. and Length= 4.9 cm b. Measure the length of the following line. cm and length 49 mm Length 95 length= 95 mm 5. To measure lengths that do not fall exactly on a centimeter mark, either count all the small lines to record the measurement in millimeters or use centimeters and count the small lines as tenths of a centimeter. For example: This line is 53 mm or 5.3 cm. As lengths become longer, you will see that it is easier to take your measurement in a larger unit.