How To Convert Inches To Feet

Are there many different inches in the world, just like there are many different feet? And what is an inch exactly? Here you will find all about How To Convert Inches To Feet.

Converting inches to feet is quick and easy once you know how to do it! The basics to remember are that there are 12 inches in one foot, so you can get from inches to feet by dividing by 12.^[1] You can get back to inches by multiplying the number of feet by twelve.

Method 1Method 1 of 2:Converting Inches to Feet

1. 1Start with your number of inches. Write this number down or type it into your calculator. If you wrote it down, be sure to label it “inches.”
   • Let’s follow along with an example problem. If we want to figure out how tall a 70 inch-tall girl is in feet, we’ll start by writing down 70 inches.
2. 2Divide this number by twelve.^[2] You’re looking for the number of times that 12 fits inside your number of inches. If it fits exactly into your inches a certain number of times, you’ll get a whole number as your answer. If it doesn’t fit perfectly into your number of inches, you’ll get a decimal, a fraction, or a mixed number.
   • In our example, dividing 70 inches by 12 gets us 70 / 12 = 5.83. We can also write this as 5 & 10/12 (5 & 5/6) or 5 remainder 10. See below for more information on remainders.
3. 3Write your answer in feet. The answer you just got is the number of feet you were looking for. Label it “feet.” If you’re doing this for school, you may lose points if you forget the label.
   • The answer we got was 5.83, so we would write it as 5.83 feet. The girl is 5.83 feet tall.
4. 4Get back to inches by multiplying by 12.^[3] Once you have a feet measurement, just multiply by 12 to get back to inches.^[4] Since multiplying is basically dividing backwards, you’ll end up with your original number of inches.
   • In our example problem, 5.83 × 12 = 70 inches. This was our original number of inches.
5. 5Use the same steps for decimals and fractions. Inches aren’t always written as whole numbers. If you have an inch measurement that’s written as a fraction or decimal, use the same process as above. See WikiHow’s guides on dividing decimals and dividing fractions if you need help.
   • Let’s use an example problem to show how to do this. We’ll figure out how many feet 15.4 inches and 15 & 2/5 inches are. These are the same numbers, just written differently.
   • Decimal: 15.4 / 12 = 1.28 feet
   • Fraction: 15 & 2/5 = (75 + 2)/5 = 77/5 inches.77/5 inches / 12 = 77/5 × 1/12 = 77/60 feet, or 1 & 17/60 feetAdvertisement

Method 2Method 2 of 2:Getting a “Feet and Inches” Measurement

1. Divide the number of inches by 12. Instead of using fractions or decimals, feet measurements are often written as a mix of feet and inches. For instance, you might say that someone is “five feet, nine inches tall”.^[5] Getting these “feet and inches” measurements is easy. Start by dividing by 12 — just like normal.
   • For this section, let’s figure out how many feet 28 inches is. To start, we’ll divide 28 by 12. 28 / 12 = 2.33.
2. Find the remainder. When you divide a number and it doesn’t “fit” perfectly, you’ll have a little bit left over. This is called the “remainder.” For example, when you divide the number 16 by 5, 5 fits in three times, but not perfectly. There is still 1 “left over.” This means the answer to 16 / 5 can be written 3 remainder (or “R”) 1. Now, look for the remainder in your division problem.^[6]
   • In our example, 12 goes into 28 twice, plus some left over. 12 × 2 = 24. Since 28 is 4 more than 24, the remainder is 4. We could write our answer, 2.33, as 2 R 4.
3. Use the whole number as the feet and the remainder as the inches. Once you know your whole number answer and its remainder, getting a “feet and inches” measurement is easy. Your whole number is the number of feet. Your remainder is the number of inches. Write your answer like this: ” x feet, y inches.”
   • In our example problem, we got an answer of 2 R 4. Since 2 is the whole number, we know we have two feet in our answer. Since 4 is the remainder, we know we have four inches. So, our answer is 2 feet, 4 inches.
4. To get back to inches, multiply the feet by 12 and add the inches. Getting back to inches for these kinds of measurements is just a little bit harder than normal. Start by multiplying the number of feet by 12. This will give you a number of inches. Now, just add the other number of inches to get an answer that’s only in inches.
   • In our example, we would start by multiplying 2 feet by 12. 2 × 12 = 24 inches. Add the 4 inches to this to get 28 inches. This is our original inches measurement.l

Inch

Definition: An inch (symbol: in) is a unit of length in the imperial and US customary systems of measurement. An inch was defined to be equivalent to exactly 25.4 millimeters in 1959. There are 12 inches in a foot and 36 inches in a yard.

History/origin: The term “inch” was derived from the Latin unit “uncia” which equated to “one-twelfth” of a Roman foot.

There have been a number of different standards for the inch in the past, with the current definition being based on the international yard. One of the earliest definitions of the inch was based on barleycorns, where an inch was equal to the length of three grains of dry, round barley placed end-to-end. Another version of the inch is also believed to have been derived from the width of a human thumb, where the length was obtained from averaging the width of three thumbs: a small, a medium, and a large one.

Current use: The inch is mostly used in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It is also sometimes used in Japan (as well as other countries) in relation to electronic parts, like the size of display screens.

Foot

Definition: A foot (symbol: ft) is a unit of length in the imperial and US customary systems of measurement. A foot was defined as exactly 0.3048 meters in 1959. One foot contains 12 inches, and one yard is comprised of three feet.

History/origin: Prior to standardization of units of measurement, and the definition of the foot currently in use, the measurement of the foot was used in many different systems including the Greek, Roman, English, Chinese, and French systems, varying in length between each. The various lengths were due to parts of the human body historically being used as a basis for units of length (such as the cubit, hand, span, digit, and many others, sometimes referred to as anthropic units). This resulted in the measurement of a foot varying between 250 mm and 335 mm in the past compared to the current definition of 304.8 mm. While the United States is one of the few, if not only, countries in which the foot is still widely used, many countries used their own version of the foot prior to metrication, as evidenced by a fairly large list of obsolete feet measurements.

Current use: The foot is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for many everyday applications. In the US, feet and inches are commonly used to measure height, shorter distances, field length (sometimes in the form of yards), etc. Feet are also commonly used to measure altitude (aviation) as well as elevation (such as that of a mountain). The international foot corresponds to human feet with shoe size 13 (UK), 14 (US male), 15.5 (US female), or 46 (EU).

Inch to Foot Conversion Table

Conclusion

When you are on the go, on the internet, on social media, on television or just on your desktop you will more than likely encounter or see measurements done in feet and inches. So reading this article and learning How To Convert Inches To Feet was not such a bad idea.