How do you do conversions?

For example:
Convert 360 s to ms

4 answers

The reliable way to do conversions is to do them as you learned in dimensional analysis; i.e., as the number you want to convert x a factor. The factor numerator/denominator is arranged so that the unit you want to convert to is in the numerator and the unit you are converting from is in the denominator. For example, there are 1000 ms in 1 s so the factor can be either (1 s/1000 ms) or it can be (1000 ms/1 s).
360 s x (1000 ms/1 s) = ??
If this isn't clear please reply but explain what you don't understand.
My teacher taught me a different way but it's very confusing. She used exponential notations.
For example, how many milligrams equals 1 gram?

she did:

x/1 milligram= (1.0g x 10^0g) 1 milligram/ [all over] 1.0 x 10^-6
which equals 1.0 x 10^6 milligram
Your teacher appears to be using a combination of ratio and proportion and exponential notation; however, I don't understand what you wrote.
It was supposed to be a ratio and using exponential notation and skipping a step in cross multiplying, but it's very confusing how she did it.