Informal Measurement

Free interactive math game: Informal Measurement — Paperclips long. Part of the Numbers Around Us category on MathKite.

Example problems

Taken from the generator that powers this exercise. A fresh set appears every time the page is opened, and the printable worksheet holds ten of them.

  1. A pencil is 11 hand spans long. A book is 19 hand spans long. How many hand spans longer is the book?
  2. A pencil is 11 paperclips long. A book is 18 paperclips long. How many paperclips longer is the book?
  3. A pencil is 8 paperclips long. A book is 10 paperclips long. How many paperclips longer is the book?
  4. A pencil is 4 pencil lengths long. A book is 10 pencil lengths long. How many pencil lengths longer is the book?

About this exercise

Measuring with everyday objects instead of a ruler — the idea that a unit is anything you repeat.

How to solve it

Count how many copies of the chosen unit fit along the object, laid end to end with no gaps and no overlaps.

Worked example

A pencil that is 7 steps long is being measured in steps, so its length is 7 of that unit.

Common mistake

Changing the unit halfway. A measurement only makes sense if every copy of the unit is the same size.