lesson
Updated 6 days ago · 2 views
Have you ever tried building a bridge for a toy car, but the road was just a tiny bit too short? A single tiny gap can make the car tumble right off!
A line segment is a straight path that connects two points, with a clear starting dot and stopping dot.
How do we make sure our lines are the exact right length every single time?
Meeting Your Ruler
Your ruler has numbers and tiny tick marks printed all along its edge. Let's look super close at those marks.
📊Interactive diagram
The big numbers are centimeters, and the tiny tick marks between them are millimeters. There are 10 millimeters packed inside every 1 centimeter.
Now that we know the marks, where should we place our ruler to measure a line?
Measuring a Line Segment
To measure, place your ruler so the starting dot touches the zero mark, not the physical plastic edge of the ruler.
📊Interactive diagram
Read the last big number the line passes, then count each tiny tick mark after it. If a line goes past 3 centimeters and touches 4 tiny ticks, it is 34 millimeters long!
What if you need to draw your own straight line of an exact length from scratch?