Example

Tripling a Recipe and Converting Milliliters to Liters

To scale a recipe and express the result in a larger metric unit, first multiply to find the total in the original unit, then convert.

Dena's lentil soup recipe calls for 150150 milliliters of olive oil. She wants to triple the recipe. How many liters of olive oil will she need?

  1. Triple the amount: 3×150 mL=450 mL3 \times 150 \text{ mL} = 450 \text{ mL}.
  2. Convert milliliters to liters: Since 11 mL =0.001= 0.001 L, multiply: 450×0.001 L1 mL=0.45 L450 \times \frac{0.001 \text{ L}}{1 \text{ mL}} = 0.45 \text{ L}. Equivalently, move the decimal point 33 places to the left because there are 1,0001{,}000 milliliters in 11 liter.

Dena needs 0.450.45 liters of olive oil. This example combines whole-number multiplication with a metric unit conversion, illustrating how multi-step problems with mixed metric operations remain manageable thanks to the power-of-ten relationship between units.

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Updated 2026-04-21

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