Fifty centiliters is equal to 0.5 liters, also known as a half liter. This is because 100 centiliters make up 1 liter, or to put it differently, 1 centiliter is equal to 0.01 liters.
Liters and centiliters are part of the metric system. Metric units have base units such as liters or meters, which can be combined with prefixes such as "centi-" or "deca-" to form related units, such as centiliters or decameters. To convert between the base unit and a unit with a prefix, one must multiply or divide by a factor of 10 - for example 1, 100 or 1,000. Which factor of 10 is used depends on the prefix. The prefix "centi-" indicates that 100 of the units make up 1 of the base unit.
