Weights and measures

Most of the world operates on the International Unit System (IUS). The decimal metric
system of weights and measures is based on the meter, which in a logical, coherent and
rational manner establishes unitary equivalences between length, weight and capacity
(in other words, meters, kilograms and liters). However, for centuries the world was run
by crazy Spaniards, followed by mad dogs and Englishmen, and now the United States,
which some consider an improvement (of sorts). Since Nicaragua came under the
influence of all three, there is a veritable mishmash (chacuatol) in this country, with all
different sorts of weights and measures being used (from Spanish colonial times, British
colonial times, American imperial times and the modern European decimal system).
The following are weights and measures used in Nicaragua (and some other Central
America countries), with their equivalents in English.

Do not confuse length and area. A square kilometer (km 2) cannot be long (as in “San
Juan del Sur is 411 km2 long”). Areas must be expressed in acres, manzanas, hectares,
square kilometers or (on occasion) square miles.

If you are going to be functional in the Anglo-American world, you need to be aware of
the following frequently used measurements, as shown compactly in the table below:

Weights
1 gram is 1/1,000 of a kilogram (there are 1000 grams in a kilogram)
1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds (libra)
1 pound (libra) has 453 grams
1 kg. has 2.53 pounds (lb.).
One hundredweight (quintal) is 100 lbs. or a bag (saco) weighing 45.3 kg.
1 ton has 1,000 kilograms
When we go to the doctor, he/she is sure to weigh us.

But even without a doctor’s visit, you may want to know how much you weigh. If you
want to convert pounds to kilograms here’s a handy rule of thumb you can use:

To get kilograms, divide by 2 then take off 1/10th of your answer.

Example: How many kilograms are there in 100 pounds (one quintal or
hundredweight)?

Divide by two = 50 kg. Take off 1/10th of the answer = (50 – 5) = 45 Kg.

For all practical purposes, this is close enough to the exact number: 45.35923kg.

On the other hand, if you want to convert kilograms to pounds, simply multiply the
number of kilos by 2.2 (again, the result is not exact, but good enough to act upon).

Example: How many pounds are there in 30 kilograms?

Multiply 30 kg by 2.2 lbs. = 66 kg

Of course, no such complicated math is necessary if you just have this Manual at hand
and look at the following conversion tables:

Kilogram to pound conversion chart

 Pound to kilogram conversion chart

Pounds (lb) Kilograms (kg) Kilograms+Grams (kg+g)

0 lb 0 kg 0 kg 0 g
0.1 lb 0.045 kg 0 kg 45 g
1 lb 0.454 kg 0 kg 454 g
2 lb 0.907 kg 0 kg 907 g
3 lb 1.361 kg 1 kg 361 g
4 lb 1.814 kg 1 kg 814 g
5 lb 2.268 kg 2 kg 268 g
6 lb 2.722 kg 2 kg 722 g
7 lb 3.175 kg 3 kg 175 g
8 lb 3.629 kg 3 kg 629 g
9 lb 4.082 kg 4 kg 82 g
10 lb 4.536 kg 4 kg 536 g
20 lb 9.072 kg 9 kg 72 g
30 lb 13.608 kg 13 kg 608 g
40 lb 18.144 kg 18 kg 144 g
50 lb 22.680 kg 22 kg 680 g
60 lb 27.216 kg 27 kg 216 g
70 lb 31.751 kg 31 kg 751 g
80 lb 36.287 kg 36 kg 287 g
90 lb 40.823 kg 40 kg 823 g
100 lb 45.359 kg 45 kg 359 g

Now then, if you weigh more than 100 lbs. (and I hope you do), simply divide the
number of pounds by 2.5 and you’ll get your approximate weight in kilograms (better
yet, help me find a more useful chart).

Measures

Lengths
1 millimeter is 1/1000 of a meter (there are one thousand millimeters in a meter)
1 centimeter is 1/100 of a meter (there are one hundred centimeters in one meter)
1 inch (in.) has 2.5 centimeters (cm.)
1 foot (ft.) has 12 inches or 30 cm.
1 yard has 3 ft. or 91 cm. (used to measure cloth)
1 vara is 0.83 meters long (used to measure lengths and surfaces)
1 meter has 100 cm.
1 kilometer = 1,000 meters (m.)
1 mile = 1,609 m.

Area
1 square centimeter has 1/10,000 of 1 square meter (m2) (100 x 100 = 10,000)
1 acre is 4,840 square yards or 4,047 m2
1 manzana has 1.7 acres
1 manzana has 7,000 m2 or 0.7 of one hectare
1 hectare has 10,000 m2
1 hectare has 1.4 manzanas

Volume and capacity

1 liter has 1,000 milliliters
1 gallon has 3.8 liters

Height:
One foot (pie) is 30.5 centimeters
One inch (pulgada) is 2.54 centimeters

Inches and ft. to centimeters and meters conversion table (human height).

Feet and inches to centimeters and meters conversion table

5’0” 60in 152.40cm

5’1” 61in 154.94cm
5’2” 62in 157.48cm
5’3” 63in 160.02cm
5’4” 64in 162.56cm
5’5” 65in 165.10cm
5’6” 66in 167.74cm
5’7” 67in 170.18cm
5’8” 68in 172.72cm
5’9” 69in 175.26cm
5’10” 70in 177.80cm
5’11” 71in 180.34cm
6’0” 72in 182.88cm
6’1” 73in 185.45cm
6’2” 74in 187.96cm
6’3” 75in 190.50cm
6’4” 76in 193.04cm
6’5” 77in 195.58cm
6’6” 78in 198.12cm
6’7” 79in 200.66cm

Distance

Now then, it might be you enjoy running. If you run 10 kilometers every second day,
how many miles are you covering?

As we saw, there are 1.6 km in one mile. So simply divide 10 km by 1.6 miles = 6.25
miles

Kilometer (km) to mile (mi) conversion chart

km mile
1 km = 0.62 mi
2 km = 1.24 mi
3 km = 1.86 mi
5 km = 3.10 mi
10 km = 6.21mi
 20 km = 12.42 mi
50 km = 31.06 mi
100 km = 62.13 mi
1000 km = 621.37 mi

How to convert km to miles

Example: convert 15 km to miles

15 km = 15 × 0.62 = 9.3 miles

Mile to kilometer conversion chart

Mile Km
1 mi = 1.609 km
2 mi = 3.21 km
3 mi = 4.82 km
5 mi = 8.0 km
10 mi = 16.0 km
20 mi = 32 km
50 mi = 80.5 km
100 mi = 161 km
1000 mi = 1609 km
How to Convert Miles to Kilometers

1 mi = 1.609 km
1 km = 0.621 mi

Example: convert 15 mi to km:

15 mi = 15 × 1.609 km = 24.14 km