Unit 04 - The Factor-Label Method

Dimensional analysis is the process by which we convert a measurement from one unit to another. As an example, we use dimensional analysis to convert feet to inches or inches to centimeters. Any two units that measure the same thing (such as length, area, volume, weight, temperature, etc.) can be converted from one to the other using dimensional analysis.

The Factor-Label Method is the single most commonly used technique to conduct dimensional analysis. This unit will teach you how to use the Factor-Label Method to conduct dimensional analysis as well as to convert other things - like converting time into money or guests into a pizza order. Next year, you will use this method in chemistry to calculate amounts of atoms or molecules present in a compound or a mixture or a solution. If you go on to take physics as seniors (which you should!) you will use the Factor-Label Method to unify measurements prior to calculating final solutions to problems. It's a useful method that keeps popping up in STEM work, so it is worth mastering early on in the process.