Math PicnicEvery sheet is a promise

Working with units worksheets

A car goes 60 miles per hour for 3 hours. What unit does 60 × 3 have? These free printable worksheets hand over the calculation and ask only what its answer is measured in — which is the question that catches a wrong method before the arithmetic does.

Customize Practice Save as PDF New questions

If they get stuck

Answer it on screen →
Working with units
Working with units worksheet — Rates, conversions, formula units, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

Most of algebra is about what to do to a number. This page is about what the number is OF. The calculation is written out in every question, so there is nothing to work out: the only thing left is tracking what the operation did to the units. Multiplying a rate by a time cancels one away; multiplying two lengths raises a power; dividing makes a per-something that was not in the question at all.

Why this sheet works

That last one is the half students never see coming. “A van goes 180 miles on 6 gallons” contains no “per” anywhere, and 180 ÷ 6 is measured in miles per gallon. The same move turns dollars and apples into a unit price, and kilometers and hours into a speed. Once a student can see it, they can check any answer they ever write.

Pick another skill