Why Do Many People Consider The Metric System To Be Superior?

Instead of over twenty-five different unit names, there are just three basic units, with prefixes, in the metric system! The same set of prefixes is used with all three units. The Greek prefixes deca-, hecto- and kilo- increase the units in multiples of ten, and the Latin prefixes deci-, centi- and milli- reduce them by submultiples of ten, as in the decimal system. Note how this is done, as shown in the chart below.

The prefixes hecto-, deca- and deci- are seldom used, so you can get along quite well by learning just the three basic units and three of the prefixes. For scientific and technical work, eight additional prefixes carry the base unit values up and down much further.

Instead of using inches, feet and miles to measure short, medium and long distances, all metric lengths are expressed in meters with the appropriate prefix: centimeters instead of inches, meters instead of feet or yards, and kilometers instead of miles.

Once the length of the meter and its decimal method of scaling up and down were set, the units of weight and volume were derived from it. A cube one centimeter on each edge became the milliliter 1/1,000 of the basic volume unit, the liter. The gram became the weight of this same milliliter filled with water!