Question

A case of tomato cans weighs 563 dekagrams. A case of soup cans weighs 458 dekagrams. How much do the two cases weigh together in decigrams?

Answer 1

both masses are in dekagrams, so you can simply add 563 + 458 to get the total mass in dekagrams. however, since it wants decigrams, we have to use a conversion table to figure out how many decigrams are equivalent to a dekagram

Answer 2

according to the chart, a dekagram is 10g, and a decigram is 0.1g
therefore, a dekagram is 10/0.1 = 100 times a decigram
so to go from dekagrams to decigrams, simply multiply your mass in dekagrams by 100