What is the Imperial System? – Learn about another system used to measure things called the imperial system with the help of our math worksheet for kids.
Aside from the metric system, the other main system of measurement in use today in daily life is the imperial system of measurement. The imperial or English unit’s measurements are based on nature or everyday life. For example, a league is based on the distance that can be walked in an hour. Sailors in the olden days would lower a weighted rope in the water, lowering it down by lengths (a length was measured by holding the rope between their outstretched hands) until the weight at the end of the rope touched the seabed. This led to the definition of a fathom as the distance between the fingertips of one hand to the fingertips of another, when the hands are held straight out to the sides. A grain (used to measure small quantities of precious metals) is the weight of a grain of wheat or barleycorn.
Have a look at the imperial conversion chart below-
Liquid measure
8 ounces= 1 cup
2 cups= 1 pint
4 cups= 1 quart
1 gill= 1/4 pint
4 quarts= 1 gallon
31.5 gallons= 1 barrel
3 tsp= 1 tbsp
1 pinch= 1/8 tsp
1 tsp= 60 drops
The advantages of the imperial system
The main advantage of the imperial system of measurements is that the units are based on the human body. The inch is (roughly) the length of the thumb, the foot the length of a foot, the yard the length of a pace. The imperial system of length is based around 12 (inches to a foot). 21 in some ways is better than 10, as it has more factors (it can be divided by 2, 3, 4) compared with 2 and 5 for 10.
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