The word “unit” is so vague. I feel like everyone has their own definition for the word. One definition is that a unit is a unit of measure. This definition is pretty straightforward. A unit is “a small part of something bigger”. For example, a box of cereal is a unit of measure because it is so much bigger than a cup of coffee. The unit of measure for the box of cereal is half the size of the cup of coffee.
A unit of measure is just a specific number. The number in a unit is always different than the number in a unit of measure. Say you have two cups of coffee and you measure the liquid in each to get two cups of liquid. This will give you two cups of liquid. Now say you have half a box of cereal. This will give you half a box of cereal. That is a unit of measure for the box of cereal.
The unit price of a house is the square footage of the home. The unit price of a box of cereal is the number of boxes of cereal per square foot of the home. The unit price of a book is the number of pages in the book. The unit price of a cup of coffee is the amount of liquid in that cup.
What is the unit of measure that measures liquids? That’s a mystery. I’ve tried to find answers to this question over the years, and I’ve finally come up with a good answer. In the United States, the standard unit of measurement for a liquid is the gallon. That’s the same as the liter, which is the volume of liquid that can be contained in a gallon of water.
A gallon is a lot bigger than a liter, but a gallon is not that much bigger than a liter. Its volume is 1/4 of a liter, which means its volume is the same as a liter, which is about a cup. A gallon is not the same as a cup of coffee, even though they are the same weight. A gallon is slightly bigger than a cup of coffee. However, they are the exact same size.
For a gallon of water you can buy 16 ounces of water. For a gallon of a different liquid you can buy 32 ounces of that liquid, but a gallon of water is not that much more expensive than a gallon of the other liquid.
The same goes for cars. A gallon of gasoline is the same as a gallon of gas. A gallon of kerosene is twice as much as a gallon of gasoline.
The car companies have a formula for the price of a gallon of gas. It’s not the same as the actual price. In the formula, a gallon of gasoline is 1,600 gallons, an a gallon of kerosene is 1,800 gallons, and a gallon of diesel is 1,600 gallons.
I believe the formula is somewhere in between, but the point is that companies keep this formula secret.
In a nutshell, the formula refers to the price of a gallon of gasoline. The formula can be confusing if you’re trying to figure out what a gallon or a gallon of gasoline is. If you’re trying to figure out what a gallon of gasoline is, you have to figure it out in a spreadsheet.