SI measurement units

The Ministry is migrating nzmaths content to Tāhurangi.
Relevant and up-to-date teaching resources are being moved to Tāhūrangi (tahurangi.education.govt.nz).
When all identified resources have been successfully moved, this website will close. We expect this to be in June 2024.
e-ako maths, e-ako Pāngarau, and e-ako PLD 360 will continue to be available.

For more information visit https://tahurangi.education.govt.nz/updates-to-nzmaths

Most of the commonly used metric units and their abbreviations are as follows:

Length: metre (m), kilometre (km) (1000 metres), centimetre (cm) (1/100 metre), millimetre (mm) (1/1000 metre)
Volume: cubic metre (m3), cubic centimetre (cm3, or c.c.),
Capacity: Units of volume may appropriately be used as units of capacity. A commonly used unit (especially with fluids) is the litre (l) (1000 cm3), and the millilitre (ml) (1 cm3). These units may also be used as units of volume.
Weight: (See mass and weight). The basic unit of weight in common use is the gram (g). It is the weight of 1 cm3 of water. Other units are the kilogram (kg) (1000g, the weight of a litre of water), the milligram (mg) (1/1000 g), the tonne (1000 kg, the weight of a cubic metre of water).
Area: : The basic unit of area is the square metre (m2). Other units in use are the square millimetre (mm2), the square centimetre (cm2), and the hectare (10,000 m2). So a hectare is the area of a square of sides 100 m.