Convert a measurement from feet into inches with confidence. Learning how to convert feet to inches is a little confusing but not impossible. I’ll show you an example of how to do it and then give you a chart so next time you can convert feet to inches with ease.
The foot is a type of imperial unit with a length equal to exactly 12 inches.
Table of Contents
Method 1 Converting a Foot Measurement Download Article
- Write the number of feet. Converting feet to inches is quite simple. First, write out the number of feet you’re dealing with. Label this number “feet” or “ft.”[1]
- It’s helpful to follow along with a real-world example to see how feet are converted to inches. Let’s say that you want to know how long the wall of your room is in inches. If the wall is eight feet long, start by writing this measurement down, like this:
- 8 feet
- Multiply the number of feet by 12. Next, multiply your number of feet by 12. Since there are 12 inches in every foot, this will give you your original foot measurement in inches.[2]
- In the example problem, you would continue by writing a “× 12” after the foot measurement, then multiplying to find the answer, like this:
- 8 feet × 12 = 96
- Label your answer in inches. Don’t forget to give your answer the label “inches” or “in.” to specify that it is in inches. If you don’t, your answer may be confusing to someone who reads it (and, if you’re doing this for schoolwork, you may lose points.)[3]
- In the example problem, label your answer like this:
- 8 feet × 12 = 96 inches
- To get inches back to feet, divide by twelve. If you ever want to get your inch measurement back into feet, just do the reverse of the multiplication you did to get it in inches: in other words, divide it by 12. Don’t forget to re-label your answer in feet.[4]
- To convert your answer in the example problem back into feet, divide it by 12 like this:
- 96 inches ÷ 12 = 8 feet
Method 2 Converting a Foot-and-Inches Measurement Download Article
- Write the number of feet. Measurements aren’t always given in just feet. Sometimes, especially for certain types of measurements like heights, measurements are given in feet and inches (like, for example, “100 feet, six inches.) In this case, start by writing just the number of feet — leave the inches out for now.
- As another example problem, let’s say that you are five feet, three inches tall and that you want to figure out exactly how tall you are in just inches. Start by writing just the number of feet, like this:
- 5 feet
- Multiply the number of feet by 12. This part is exactly the same as when dealing with just feet. Simply multiply by 12 and label your answer in inches.[5]
- In the example problem, multiply like this:
- 5 feet × 12 = 60 inches
- Add the remaining inches. Now, add the leftover inches from the beginning to the answer you just got. This gives you your final answer in inches. Don’t forget the label.[6]
- In the example problem, finish finding your height in inches like this:
- 5 feet × 12 = 60 inches + 3 inches = 63 inches
- Divide by 12 and use the remainder to get back to feet and inches. If you want to get back to the same type of feet-and-inches measurement as we had before, there is a little more work to do this time. To do this, divide by 12, then find the remainder. The answer for dividing by 12 is the number of feet and the remainder is the number of inches (for example, 4 R5 would be four feet, five inches.)[7]
- A remainder is just the number “left over” when two numbers don’t divide evenly. For example, four goes into 12 exactly three times, but five doesn’t fit into twelve perfectly — it goes in twice to make 10, then it only fits in partly the third time. 5 × 2 = 10, which is two less than twelve, so we say that we have a remainder of two (or R2). In other words, five goes into twelve twice, then we need to add an “extra” two to get to twelve.
- In the example problem, get back into feet and inches like this:
- 63 inches / 12 = 5 R3 → 5 feet 3 inches
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
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 to Inch Conversion Table
| Foot [ft] | Inch [in] |
|---|---|
| 0.01 ft | 0.12 in |
| 0.1 ft | 1.2 in |
| 1 ft | 12 in |
| 2 ft | 24 in |
| 3 ft | 36 in |
| 5 ft | 60 in |
| 10 ft | 120 in |
| 20 ft | 240 in |
| 50 ft | 600 in |
| 100 ft | 1200 in |
| 1000 ft | 12000 in |
Conclusion
One foot is equal to exactly 12 inches. This conversion is applicable in many fields like while measuring the building structure or while taking the measurements of the body parts for babies and adults. The feet are further divided into inches, quarters and eighths. The measurement systems include the U.S. customary, imperial and also the international measurement systems like metric system.