The Metre, = 39·370113 inches, is divided into 10 decimetres, 100 centimetres, 1000 millimetres.
1 yard = 0·9144 metre; 1 foot = 0·3048 metre; 1 inch = 0·0254 metre, or 2·54 centimetres.
It is multiplied by 10 for the decametre, by 100 for the hectometre, by 1000 for the kilometre, by 10,000 for the myriametre. Practically the kilometre, = 0·621 mile or 1093·6 yards, is the only larger unit used; the other units are useless. And though it be interesting to know that the kilometre is approximately 1/10,000 of the quarter-meridian, it is a useless fact.
Surface
The square metre = 1·196 square yard. The lower units are little used. For land-measurement the square decametre, 10 × 10 metres, is called an Are; 100 ares = 100 × 100 metres, make a Hectare = 2·47 acres; and the square metre is a Centiare.
1 acre = 0·40468 hectare.
Solidity
The cubic metre = 35·315 cubic feet (nearly the volume of a ton of water = 35·84 cubic feet) contains 1000 cubic decimetres, each of 1000 cubic centimetres (= 61 cubic inches).
1 cubic foot = 0·028317 cubic metre.
The cubic centimetre is strictly speaking 1/1000 cubic decimetre, but as used in chemistry for fluid measure it is considered as 1/1000 of the litre, which is only approximately a cubic decimetre.