If an ammeter marked in amperes is used to measure a 3000-milliampere current, what reading would it show?

The prefix 'milli' indicates one-thousandth (1/1,000) of a base unit. This means that it takes exactly 1,000 milliamperes (mA) to equal one single ampere (A). To convert from a smaller unit (milliamperes) to a larger base unit (amperes), you must divide the given value by the conversion factor of 1,000. By dividing 3000 mA by 1000, the result is exactly 3 amperes. Distractors like 0.3 or 0.03 result from dividing by incorrect powers of ten, which applies the wrong conversion scale.