Unit Conversions In Ancient Greece

     Imagine you are in Ancient Greece! You're there at the time that Socrates began conducting his ancient experiments. You, being a fellow farmer in Greece, wanted to calculate the area of your farmland, but OH NO- you only knew how to count metres using your armspan. :( You suddenly have an intense epiphany! You remember that a wise man once told you that area is just length X width! Therefore, the area of your field can be calculated using armspan squared! 


Here are your measurements:


Length = 20 arm spans
Width = 10 arm spans


If in one arm span, there are 10 thumbs, and the area of the field is 200 arm span squared, what would the area be in thumb squared?

 

Your Farm

If you need some help, we've broken down the steps:

Step 1: Write the number and unit that you wish to convert. In your case, you are converting 200 arm spans squared, which is also:

200 arm spans²          10² thumbs²          20000 thumbs² OR 2.0 x 10⁴ thumbs²

_______________  x   ____________  =                             

          1                      1² arm span²        

NOTE: Remember to not only square the unit, square the number too!

          ex/ 10 thumbs = 10 thumbs² WRONG

                10 thumbs = 10² thumbs² RIGHT (10 thumbs x 10 thumbs)