Area and convert

Question

I’m trying to find area of a rectangle but I have to convert from inches to meters. Should I convert first then find the area or vice versa?

Answer 1

Either way works fine. Some would argue one way over the other but it's up to you.

Assume the rectangle is 5 inches x 10 inches. To convert inches to meters, I know that there are 3.2808 ft in 1 meter so I would first convert from inches to feet then the feet to meters as follows:

Answer 2

Yes you should convert first.