Class 5 Maths (Ganit Mela) Chapter 5, Far and Near, is where students move from just naming length units to actually working with them — converting between millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres, and using those conversions to solve everyday distance and length problems. These extra questions give focused practice on exactly that skill, in both directions (small units to big, and big units to small).
About Chapter 5: Far and Near
The chapter builds on the basic length units introduced in earlier classes and formalises the relationships between them. It also introduces the idea of choosing an appropriate unit depending on what is being measured — you would not measure the length of a pencil in kilometres, and you would not measure the distance between two cities in millimetres.
Quick Concept Recap Before You Begin
- 1 centimetre (cm) = 10 millimetres (mm)
- 1 metre (m) = 100 centimetres (cm) = 1,000 millimetres (mm)
- 1 kilometre (km) = 1,000 metres (m)
- To convert a bigger unit to a smaller unit, multiply.
- To convert a smaller unit to a bigger unit, divide.
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Q1. Which of these is the correct order from smallest to largest unit?
(a) km, m, cm, mm (b) mm, cm, m, km (c) cm, mm, m, km (d) m, cm, mm, km
Answer: (b) mm, cm, m, km
Q2. 5 metres is equal to how many centimetres?
(a) 50 cm (b) 500 cm (c) 5,000 cm (d) 5 cm
Answer: (b) 500 cm (5 × 100)
Q3. Which unit would you use to measure the length of your classroom?
(a) millimetres (b) metres (c) kilometres (d) none of these
Answer: (b) metres
Q4. 3,000 metres is the same as:
(a) 3 km (b) 30 km (c) 0.3 km (d) 300 km
Answer: (a) 3 km
Q5. Which is the longer distance: 900 m or 1 km?
(a) 900 m (b) 1 km (c) both are equal (d) cannot say
Answer: (b) 1 km (1 km = 1,000 m, which is more than 900 m)
Short Answer Questions
Q6. Convert 8 cm into millimetres.
Answer: 8 × 10 = 80 mm.
Q7. Convert 6,000 m into kilometres.
Answer: 6,000 ÷ 1,000 = 6 km.
Q8. A ribbon is 250 cm long. How many metres is that?
Answer: 250 ÷ 100 = 2.5 m.
Q9. Which unit is best for measuring the thickness of a coin?
Answer: Millimetres (mm), since it is a very small measurement.
Q10. Arrange in increasing order: 2 km, 1,500 m, 900 m.
Answer: First convert to the same unit — 2 km = 2,000 m. So the order is 900 m < 1,500 m < 2,000 m (2 km).
Long Answer / Word Problems (with Full Solutions)
Q11. Meera walks 350 m to her school every morning and 350 m back home in the evening. How much total distance does she walk in a day, and in metres, how far is that in a 5-day school week?
Solution: One day’s distance = 350 m + 350 m = 700 m. For 5 days = 700 × 5 = 3,500 m, which can also be written as 3.5 km.
Q12. A rope is 4 m 25 cm long. Express its length fully in centimetres.
Solution: 4 m = 400 cm. Total = 400 cm + 25 cm = 425 cm.
Q13. The distance between two villages is 12 km. A cyclist has already covered 7,250 m. How many more metres does the cyclist need to travel?
Solution: 12 km = 12,000 m. Remaining distance = 12,000 m − 7,250 m = 4,750 m.
Q14. Three pieces of wire measure 1 m 50 cm, 75 cm, and 2 m 10 cm. What is their total length in metres?
Solution: Convert all to cm: 150 cm + 75 cm + 210 cm = 435 cm = 4 m 35 cm, i.e. 4.35 m.
Step-by-Step Method for Any Conversion Question
Most students lose marks not because they don’t know the conversion factor, but because they apply it in the wrong direction. Use this three-step check every time:
Step 1 – Identify the two units. Write down the unit you are starting with and the unit you need to end with.
Step 2 – Decide the direction. Going from a bigger unit to a smaller unit (km → m, m → cm, cm → mm) always multiplies the number. Going from a smaller unit to a bigger unit always divides.
Step 3 – Apply the correct factor. mm↔cm uses 10, cm↔m uses 100, m↔km uses 1,000.
More Practice Questions
Q15. Convert 7,500 mm into metres.
Answer: First mm to cm: 7,500 ÷ 10 = 750 cm. Then cm to m: 750 ÷ 100 = 7.5 m.
Q16. A road is 4.5 km long. Express this length in metres.
Answer: 4.5 × 1,000 = 4,500 m.
Q17. Two ropes measure 2 m 40 cm and 1 m 85 cm. What is their combined length in centimetres?
Answer: 240 cm + 185 cm = 425 cm.
Q18. Which is a more sensible unit to measure the height of a school building — centimetres or metres? Why?
Answer: Metres, because the number stays small and easy to read (a building might be “12 m” instead of an awkward “1,200 cm”).
Q19. Sunita’s school is 1 km 200 m from her home. Write this distance fully in metres.
Answer: 1 km = 1,000 m. Total = 1,000 m + 200 m = 1,200 m.
Q20. If a marathon route is 42 km long, roughly how many times would a runner have to run around a 400 m school track to cover the same distance?
Answer: 42 km = 42,000 m. 42,000 ÷ 400 = 105 times (approximately).
Real-Life Connections
Length conversion is one of the most-used maths skills outside the classroom — reading a road sign that says a town is “45 km” away, checking a food label’s net weight-adjacent volume, buying cloth by the metre, or measuring a room before buying furniture. Encourage students to notice real distance and length numbers around them (bus stop signs, ruler markings, bottle labels) and mentally convert them as a quick daily practice habit.
Why These Questions Help
These questions deliberately mix conversion in both directions and everyday word problems, because that combination is exactly what the chapter’s own exercises test — not just memorising “1 km = 1,000 m” but applying it to compare, add, and subtract real distances.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these questions from the official NCERT textbook?
No — these are original practice questions built around the same length-conversion concepts taught in Chapter 5, meant for extra practice alongside the textbook.
What is the easiest way to remember the conversion factors?
Remember the chain: mm ×10→ cm ×100→ m ×1000→ km. Going right you multiply, going left (back to smaller units) you divide.
My child keeps mixing up when to multiply and when to divide — any tip?
Ask “will the number get bigger or smaller?” first. Converting big units into small units (like km into m) always makes the number bigger, so you multiply. Converting small units into big units always makes the number smaller, so you divide.
Why does the chapter mix mm, cm, m and km instead of using one unit for everything?
Because different real-world objects need different units to stay easy to read — a coin’s thickness in km, or a city’s distance in mm, would both be impossibly awkward numbers.
How is this chapter useful for exams beyond just this one topic?
Unit conversion is a skill that reappears throughout maths (weight, capacity, time, money) and in science later on, so mastering the multiply/divide logic here pays off well beyond Chapter 5 itself.
What should a student do if they get a conversion answer that “looks wrong”?
Sanity-check the size: converting to a smaller unit should always give a bigger number, and converting to a bigger unit should always give a smaller number. If the answer goes the opposite way, the multiplication/division was likely swapped.
See the Chapter 5 Solutions and Revision Notes for the full concept walkthrough.
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