Litres and millilitres

In your book, Maths Mela (Chapter 8), we measure how much water a bottle or container can hold. This is called its capacity. We write l for litre and ml for millilitre. 1 l = 1000 ml.

How many 500 ml bottles fill a 1 l bottle? 500 ml + 500 ml = 1000 ml = 1 l. So two 500 ml bottles fill it, and 500 ml is half a litre: 500 ml = 1/2 l.

Four 250 ml bottles fill a 1 l bottle, because 250 ml + 250 ml + 250 ml + 250 ml = 1000 ml. So 250 ml is a quarter of a litre: 250 ml = 1/4 l. And ten 100 ml bottles fill it too, because 10 lots of 100 ml make 1000 ml.

We can also count smaller amounts. 1/2 l is 500 ml, so it holds 2 lots of 250 ml, or 5 lots of 100 ml. 750 ml holds 3 lots of 250 ml (250, 500, 750). 800 ml holds 8 lots of 100 ml.