Sometimes when answering a numerical question, your instructor will require that you provide a unit of measurement along with the numerical value of the answer. You’ll need to enter a unit abbreviation in a format that OWL will accept.
Every unit of measurement can be thought of as being part of a unit category. Consider the following question: "What is 5 cm + 3 cm?" The answer can be variously expressed as: "8 cm", ".00008 km", ".08 m", "80 mm", etc. All of these units, and others, are units of length, and OWL considers them part of the Length category.
Unit Abbreviation |
Unit |
|
cm |
centimeter |
|
km |
kilometer |
|
m |
meter |
|
mm |
millimeter |
|
mi |
mile |
Each unit of measurement category has one or more units of measurement associated with it. When answering a question that requires a unit, you simply type in an appropriate Unit Abbreviation next to the value for the answer. You can answer using any of the provided units, and OWL will automatically do a conversion when checking the correctness of your answer.
1. Click the Units button on the menu bar.
2. An auxiliary window will come up and contain a list of all the Units of Measurement Categories in the OWL department database that you’ve logged into.
3. Click on a category link (Length, for example) to see the available units and their abbreviations in the selected category.
Note: Make sure to use a Unit Abbreviation and not the name of the unit when answering a question.