It might seem like a silly question, but the answer is not as obvious as you might think. The reason for this is because there are two different kinds of inches: standard inches and metric inches.
Standard inches (also known as British imperial units) are used in the U.S., Canada, and other countries that measure things using units from the British imperial system.
Metric inches (also known as millimeters), on the other hand, are used almost everywhere else in the world.
To convert from standard inches to metric inches, you need to first understand how each unit of measurement is derived. An inch is a unit of length that is equal to one twelfth of a foot. There are 12 inches in a foot because there are 12 digits on your hands (excluding your thumbs). Therefore, converting from standard to metric simply involves multiplying or dividing by 12 or 100 respectively.
If you need to do this at any point during reading this article, these conversion factors will also come in handy: 1 standard inch = 2.54 centimeters; 1 meter = 10 cm; and 1 millimeter = 0.01 cm
Standard Inches
First, let’s start with the standard inch, since it’s the unit of measurement that most people are used to. Standard inches are typically abbreviated as “in” (e.g. 6 in) and tenths of an inch are abbreviated as “t” (e.g. 6t). Some sources also abbreviate inches as “ ” (e.g. 6 “), but this use is less common.
Standard inches are defined as the distance between two lines on a piece of paper when the paper is laid on a flat surface. The two lines are parallel to one another and are known as the “main” or “text” lines. The distance between the two lines is referred to as the “paper thickness.”
Converting to Metric Inches
The most common way to convert to metric inches is to multiply the standard length by 2.54. For example, let’s say that you want to know how many centimeters are in 6 feet. To solve this problem, you would multiply 6 feet by 2.54 (the conversion factor between feet and centimeters). This gives you a result of 19.68 meters.
Another way to convert from feet to centimeters is to first convert from feet to standard inches, then from standard inches to centimeters. This can be done with the following two equations: 6 feet × 12 inches = 72 inches 72 inches × 2.54 cm/inch = 19.68 cm This gives us a total of 19.68 centimeters. This is very close to the result we got in the first example. The difference between these two calculations is due to rounding error.
Converting from Foot and Inches to Millimeters
To convert from foot and inches to millimeters, you would first convert the inches to standard inches, then convert the standard inches to metric inches, and finally convert the metric inches to millimeters. To do this, you would perform the following calculations: 2.54 × 32 (the conversion factor between inches and centimeters) = 72.96 cm 72.96 cm × 12 inches = 959.44 mm 959.44 mm ÷ 25.4 mm/cm = 365.81 mm This gives a result of 365.81 millimeters. In the real world, this number would be rounded to 366 mm. This is why the difference between the two methods of calculation in the previous section was due to rounding error.
Converting from Centimeters to Millimeters
Let’s say that you want to convert from centimeters to millimeters. In this case, you would first convert from centimeters to standard inches, then convert from standard inches to metric inches, and finally convert from metric inches to millimeters. To do this, you would perform the following calculations: 3.94 × 32 (the conversion factor between inches and centimeters) = 112.56 cm 112.56 cm × 12 inches = 1398.24 mm 1398.24 mm ÷ 25.4 mm/cm = 533.38 mm This converts to 533.38 millimeters. Again, this number would be rounded to 533 mm.
Converting from Feet and Inches to Meters
Let’s say that you want to convert from feet and inches to meters. In this case, you would first convert the inches to standard inches, convert the standard inches to centimeters, and then convert the centimeters to meters. To do this, you would perform the following calculations: 3.28 × 12 inches = 39.36 inches 39.36 inches × 2.54 cm/inch = 114.72 cm 114.72 cm × 39.37 mm/cm = 479.77 mm This converts to 479.77 meters. Again, this number would be rounded to 480 meters.
Final Words
In the real world, units of measurement are usually abbreviated, but they are still based on the same conversion factors that we covered in this article. For example, 4′ 10″ is 4 feet 10 inches, or 72 inches. Similarly, 5′ 11″ is 5 feet 11 inches, or 77 inches. Converting between the different systems of measurement can be tricky, so it’s important to understand how each unit of measurement is derived. With this knowledge, you can easily convert between units of measurement and avoid mistakes like accidentally measuring something in inches when you meant to use centimeters.