What Is Measurement

• The process of comparing an object with a standard unit of measurement.
• Here, the known fixed quantity is called a unit .
• Example - Length of the table is 10 length of Handspan.
• Here, 10 is the number and Handspan is the unit selected for measurement.

Standard unit of Measurement:

Ancient Units:

• People used length of foot , width of fingers and distance of a step to measure things in different parts of the world.
• Length of elbow to the finger , known as cubit was also used as a unit of measurement in Egypt.
• Yard of cloth was measured by the distance between the outstretched arm and their chin, Romans measured the yard of cloth with their pace or steps.
• Angul (Finger) or Mutthi (fist) were used for measuring small length

Disadvantage: 

Since everyone’s body parts were of different sizes , using these units for measurement can be very confusing . Therefore, in 1790, the French created a standard unit of measurement called the metric system .

Modern unit:

• For the sake of uniformity , scientists all over the world make use of the International system of unit (SI UNIT).
• SI units of length is Metre.
• 1 metre (m)=100 centimetre (cm)
• 1 centimetre (cm)=10 millimetre (mm)
• 1 kilometre (km)=1000 metre (m)