Sometimes, the amount of a substance needs to be converted to a different but comparable value for use in another preparation. For example, unit conversion may be necessary to prepare specific concentrations of solutions from other solutions.
Unit conversion allows the change of one type of unit to another. Ratio and proportion can again be used to calculate the new unit value with equivalent units used to make these conversions.
Example:
How would you convert 95 mg/dL to mg/L?
Note: Algebraic rules allow that any number can be multiplied by "1" in an equation. In this example, "1" equals 10 dL/1L. This allows the unit conversion to occur by crossing out equivalent units in the equation.
(10 dL/1L = 1)
95 mg/1 dL X 10 dL/1 L = (95 mg x 10)/1 L = 950 mg/L
