Convert cm to feet

Centimeter

Symbol

The Centimeter is represented by the symbol “cm.”

Description

Centimeter is a unit of length in the metric system which is also the International System of Units (SI). It was the base unit of length in the now deprecated CGS (centimeter-gram-second) system of units.

Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of 1/100.  A centimeter approximately corresponds to the average adult person's fingernail width. This unit is equal to one-hundredth of a meter, the base of the SI unit of length. So, a centimeter is equal to 1/100 meters. Though measurement units frequently choose SI prefixes for factors of 10^3, such as milli- and kilo-, for many physical values, however, the centimeter remains a practical unit of length for many everyday measurements. 

Centimeters can be changed to other SI units using prefix multipliers based on powers of ten. For example, a millimeter equals 1/10 centimeters. So, a centimeter is equivalent to 10 millimeters.

If you are converting cm to inch, then the calculation is different. One inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters. Therefore, one centimeter is equivalent to 0.393701 inches.

History

The term centimeter was first used in the late 1700s. The centimeter is a part of the metric system. The metric system of measurement is primarily credited to the French. The French government officially adopted this system on April 7, 1795.

Use

The centimeter as mentioned before is unit of length. It is more commonly used for dimensions for which meter measure is unrealistically large. 

Foot

Symbol

The foot is represented by the symbol ‘ft’ or often approximated by an apostrophe. For example, 5 feet is sometimes denoted as 5’.

Description

The Foot is a unit of length in the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. In both cases, one foot is equal to 12 inches.

For yard to foot calculations, one yard comprises of three feet. The standard measurement of a foot is exactly 0.3048 meters, which is equivalent to 304.8 millimeters. So for foot to meter conversion, multiply foot by 0.3048. 

Following that, there are 3.281 feet in a meter. While converting ft to cm, note that there are 0.0328 feet in a centimeter. So, one foot is equal to 30.48 centimeters. 

The measurement of a United States survey foot is exactly 1200 ⁄3937 meters or approximately 0.30480061 m. It is used for mapping and surveying. It is exactly 1,000,000/999,998 times the international foot which means that it is larger by 610 nm or nanometer.

History

The Old English word "fot" is where the word "foot" (meaning "terminal part of the leg of a vertebrate animal") came from.

Historically, the "foot" was a part of many regional systems of units, such as the Greek, Roman, Chinese, French, and English systems. The first recorded standard foot measure comes from Sumer, where a definition is given in a statue of Gudea of Lagash from around 2575 BC. 

Use

Feet is generally used for measuring height such as floor height, human height, short distances, elevation etc.