Congress, recognizing the criticality of the United States' conformance with international standards for trade, included new strong incentives for United States industrial metrication in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act Of 1988 . The Act's mandates are based on the conclusion that industrial and commercial productivity, effectiveness in mathematics and science education, and competitiveness of American products in world markets, will be enhanced by completing the change to the metric system of units. Failure to do so will increasingly handicap the Nation's industry and economy. The Federal Government's mandate is intended to encourage United States producers to develop their ability to provide goods and services expressed in metric units. The metric system is a decimal-based system of measurement units.
Calculations involve the simple process of moving the decimal point to the right or to the left.
There are only seven basic units in the metric system. The metric system avoids confusing dual-use of terms, such as our current use of ounces to measure both weight and volume. That is why objects that have mass are said to be 'weightless' when in space and there are no effects of gravity. Almost everyone already recognizes 1 L and 2 L soft-drink bottles. When you pick up a two-pound bag of sugar, you are holding a little less than one kilogram.