Transum Software

Imperial Units

Learn about common imperial units and how they relate to other units of measurement

  Menu   Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Other Units   Exam     Help     More  

Units of weight

Ton was standardised in the 13th century and should not be confused with the metric tonne that has a different spelling.

Stone derives from the use of stones for weights, a practice that dates back into antiquity

Pound is descended from the Roman libra (hence the abbreviation lb). The English word pound is derived from German Pfund, Dutch pond, and Swedish pund.

Ounce derived almost unchanged from the uncia, an ancient Roman unit of measurement.

1 ton = 160 stones1 stone = 14 pounds1 pound = 16 ounces

This is level 2: units of weight. You will be awarded a trophy if you get at least 14 correct and you do this activity online.

1

What is the abbreviation or symbol used for pounds?

2

What is the abbreviation or symbol used for tons?

3

What is the abbreviation or symbol used for ounces?

4

How many ounces are in a stone?

5

How many pounds are in a ton?

6

How many ounces are in a ton?

7

How many ounces are in 9 pounds?

8

How many pounds are in 6 stones?

9

How many stones are in 8 tons?

10

How many pounds are equivalent to 128 ounces?

11

How many stones are equivalent to 112 pounds?

12

How many stones are equivalent to 1120 ounces?

13

I planned to pick three stones of apples but only managed half of that. How many pounds of apples did I pick?

14

A small rowing boat weighs nine and a half stones.
How many ounces is that weight equivalent to?

15

How many 8oz bags of sweets can be obtained from a three pound jar of sweets?

16

Lofty was seven stone five pounds when he first joined Aston Cottage School. He is now eight stone thirteen pounds. By how many pounds has his weight increased?

17

Subtract 2st 9lb from 8st 4lb giving your answer as a number of pounds.

18

A bag of Cakewell flour weighs one pound and two ounces. What is the total weight, in pounds, of 24 bags of this flour?

19

How many times heavier is a rock weighing eleven stones than a rock weighting eleven pounds?

20

Find three quarters of five tons. Give your answer as a number of stones.

Check

In the United Kingdom, the (Imperial) ton is defined as 2240 pounds.

In the United States and Canada, a ton is defined to be 2000 pounds!

This exercise refers to the United Kingdom ton.

This is Imperial Units level 2. You can also try:
Level 1 Level 3

Instructions

Try your best to answer the questions above. Type your answers into the boxes provided leaving no spaces. As you work through the exercise regularly click the "check" button. If you have any wrong answers, do your best to do corrections but if there is anything you don't understand, please ask your teacher for help.

When you have got all of the questions correct you may want to print out this page and paste it into your exercise book. If you keep your work in an ePortfolio you could take a screen shot of your answers and paste that into your Maths file.

Why am I learning this?

Mathematicians are not the people who find Maths easy; they are the people who enjoy how mystifying, puzzling and hard it is. Are you a mathematician?

Comment recorded on the 24 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Ruth Seward, Hagley Park Sports College:

"Find the starters wonderful; students enjoy them and often want to use the idea generated by the starter in other parts of the lesson. Keep up the good work"

Comment recorded on the 28 May 'Starter of the Day' page by L Smith, Colwyn Bay:

"An absolutely brilliant resource. Only recently been discovered but is used daily with all my classes. It is particularly useful when things can be saved for further use. Thank you!"

Each month a newsletter is published containing details of the new additions to the Transum website and a new puzzle of the month.

The newsletter is then duplicated as a podcast which is available on the major delivery networks. You can listen to the podcast while you are commuting, exercising or relaxing.

Transum breaking news is available on Twitter @Transum and if that's not enough there is also a Transum Facebook page.

Featured Activity

ChristMaths

ChristMaths

Christmas activities make those December Maths lessons interesting, exciting and relevant. If students have access to computers there are some online activities to keep them engaged such as Christmas Ornaments and Christmas Light Up.

Answers

There are answers to this exercise but they are available in this space to teachers, tutors and parents who have logged in to their Transum subscription on this computer.

A Transum subscription unlocks the answers to the online exercises, quizzes and puzzles. It also provides the teacher with access to quality external links on each of the Transum Topic pages and the facility to add to the collection themselves.

Subscribers can manage class lists, lesson plans and assessment data in the Class Admin application and have access to reports of the Transum Trophies earned by class members.

If you would like to enjoy ad-free access to the thousands of Transum resources, receive our monthly newsletter, unlock the printable worksheets and see our Maths Lesson Finishers then sign up for a subscription now:

Subscribe

Go Maths

Learning and understanding Mathematics, at every level, requires learner engagement. Mathematics is not a spectator sport. Sometimes traditional teaching fails to actively involve students. One way to address the problem is through the use of interactive activities and this web site provides many of those. The Go Maths page is an alphabetical list of free activities designed for students in Secondary/High school.

Maths Map

Are you looking for something specific? An exercise to supplement the topic you are studying at school at the moment perhaps. Navigate using our Maths Map to find exercises, puzzles and Maths lesson starters grouped by topic.

Teachers

If you found this activity useful don't forget to record it in your scheme of work or learning management system. The short URL, ready to be copied and pasted, is as follows:

Alternatively, if you use Google Classroom, all you have to do is click on the green icon below in order to add this activity to one of your classes.

It may be worth remembering that if Transum.org should go offline for whatever reason, there is a mirror site at Transum.info that contains most of the resources that are available here on Transum.org.

When planning to use technology in your lesson always have a plan B!

Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for those learning Mathematics anywhere in the world. Click here to enter your comments.

Transum.org is a proud supporter of the kidSAFE Seal Program

© Transum Mathematics 1997-2024
Scan the QR code below to visit the online version of this activity.

This is a QR Code

https://www.Transum.org/go/?Num=628

Description of Levels

Close

Level 1 - Units of length

Level 2 - Units of weight

Level 3 - Units of capacity

Exam Style Questions - A collection of problems in the style of GCSE or IB/A-level exam paper questions (worked solutions are available for Transum subscribers).

More on this topic including lesson Starters, visual aids, investigations and self-marking exercises.

Answers to this exercise are available lower down this page when you are logged in to your Transum account. If you don’t yet have a Transum subscription one can be very quickly set up if you are a teacher, tutor or parent.

Log in Sign up

Curriculum Reference

See the National Curriculum page for links to related online activities and resources.

Conversion Information

1 mile = 1760 yards1 yard = 3 feet1 foot = 12 inches

1 ton = 160 stones1 stone = 14 pounds1 pound = 16 ounces

1 gallon = 4 quarts1 quart = 2 pints1 pint = 20 fluid ounces

 

Compared to metric units

The sign ≈ means approximately equal to.

1 inch ≈ 2.5cm

5 miles ≈ 8 km

2.2 lb (pounds) ≈ 1kg

1.75 pints ≈ 1 litre

1 gallon ≈ 4.5 litres

 

Don't wait until you have finished the exercise before you click on the 'Check' button. Click it often as you work through the questions to see if you are answering them correctly. You can double-click the 'Check' button to make it float at the bottom of your screen.

Answers to this exercise are available lower down this page when you are logged in to your Transum account. If you don’t yet have a Transum subscription one can be very quickly set up if you are a teacher, tutor or parent.

Log in Sign up

Just when I thought I knew all of the imperial units I heard Matt Parker (Standup Maths) list them all, even the more obscure ones, in this wonderful monologue. When you hear their names and their relative sizes you cannot help but be grateful for the metric system which is more common today.

Matt Parker's Imperial Units

More or Less Podcast Matt Parker's Website Transum Podcast

This audio excerpt is from an excellent podcast from BBC Radio 4 called More or Less: Behind the Stats in which Tim Harford tries to make sense of the statistics which surround us. It's well worth a listen if you have an interest in mathematics and statistics and provides real world examples of the maths we learn in school.

Close