Conversion of Length

Note: we also have Conversion Charts, and a Unit Converter.

How to Convert Lengths

Conversion of length is simply multiplying by the correct number.

Follow these steps:

• Find the correct conversion number (see Conversion Charts)
• Then just Multiply by that number

Example 1

Convert 3 feet into meters

If we put a 1-meter ruler next to a 1-foot ruler, they would look like this:
If you then looked more closely, you would see that the 1-foot ruler came to exactly 0.3048 on the meter ruler:

So, the conversion for feet to meters is: 1 ft = 0.3048 meters

Let me show you why this works: to find what 3 feet would be in meters, we could put three 1 foot rulers next to each other like this:

So, 3 ft = 0.9144 m

Example 2

Convert 5 kilometers into miles

The conversion for kilometers into miles is:

1 km = 0.6214 mile (to 4 digits of accuracy)

So, the length conversion is "multiply by 0.6214":

5 × 0.6214 = 3.107

So, 5 km = 3.107 miles (to 3 decimal places)