Depends On How You Measure It.

Length and Distance Measurement Conversion Reference

Length and Distance Measurement Conversion Reference

Length and Distance Conversions

This table provides conversions between various units of length and distance measurement. Most of the units shown are collectively known as "English" units of measurements, some of which are still widely used in the United States and a few other countries.

Convert From-> Convert To \/	Centimeter (cm)	Inch (in or ")	Hand	Foot (ft or ')	Yard (yd)	Meter (m)	Fathom	Rod (rd)	Kilometer (km)	Mile (mi)
Centimeter (cm)		2.54	10.16	30.48	91.44	100	182.88	502.92	100,000	160,934.4
Inch (in or ")	3.937e-1		4	12	36	39.37	72	198	39,370	63,360
Hand	9.8425e-2	0.25		3	9	9.8425	18	66	9,842.5	15,840
Foot (ft or ')	3.2808e-2	8.3333e-2	3.3333e-1		3	3.28084	6	16.5	3,280.84	5,280
Yard (yd)	1.0936e-2	2.7778e-2	1.1111e-1	3.3333e-1		1.093613	2	5.5	1,093.613	1,760
Meter (m)	0.01	2.54e-2	2.62e-2	3.048e-1	9.144e-1		1.8288	5.0292	1,000	1,609.344
Fathom	5.4681e-3	1.3889e-2	5.5556e-2	1.6667e-1	0.5	5.4681e-1		2.75	546.8066	880
Rod (rd)	1.9884e-3	5.0505e-3	1.5152e-2	6.0606e-2	1.8182e-1	1.9884e-1	3.6364e-1		198.8388	320
Kilometer (km)	0.00001	2.54e-5	1.6093e-5	3.048e-4	9.144e-4	0.001	1.8288e-3	5.0292e-2		1.609,344
Mile (mi)	6.2137e-6	1.5783e-5	6.3131e-5	1.8939e-4	5.6818e-4	6.2137e-4	1.1364e-3	3.125e-3	6.2137e-1

How to use the table

Locate the unit of measure that you want to convert from along the top of the chart. Then look down that column until you reach the row of the unit of measure that you wish to convert to. The number at the intersection of column and row is the conversion multiplier.

For example, if you know a water depth is 1230 feet and you want to convert that value into fathoms, look down the "foot" column until you find "fathom" row, where you will find the value 1.6667e-1. Multiply 1230 by 1.6667e-1 and you will find that 1230 feet equals 205 fathoms.

The table is used in the same way even when the conversions are between English and Metric units of measurement. For example, if you knew a destination was 7 miles away and wanted to know the metric equivalent, look down the "miles" column until you find the "kilometers" row, and you will find the value 1.609,344. Multiplying 7 miles by 1.609,344 gives you 11.235,408 kilometers, the equivalent metric distance.

Notes:

• The "Hand" measurement is used worldwide to state the height of horses. A six-foot tall horse would be said to be "eighteen hands".
  
• The "Fathom" measurement is used exclusively to measure the depth of water.
  
• Fractional measurements are shown with up to five digits of precision and most are shown in scientific notation to allow the table to be narrow enough to be printed on a single page. Additional digits of precision can be obtained if needed by locating the reverse conversion (such as Meter to Inch instead of Inch to Meter) and taking the reciprocal of that value.
  
• Although there are additional metric units of measurements, the table above only lists a few since all the other metric units can be obtained using the following table.

In-Metric Conversions

All metric measurement units are directly convertible between one another by dividing or multiplying by the values shown below.

Nanometer (nm)	Micrometer aka Micron (um)	Millimeter (mm)	Centimeter (cm)	Decimeter (dm)	Meter (m)	Dekameter (dam)	Hectometer (hm)	Kilometer (km)	Myriameter (mym)
0.000,000,001 (1.0e-9)	0.000,001 (1.0e-6)	0.001 (1.0e-3)	0.01 (1.0e-2)	0.1 (1.0e-1)	1 (1.0e0)	10 (1.0e1)	100 (1.0e2)	1,000 (1.0e3)	10,000 (1.0e4)

Imprecise Measurements

League - Approximately 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles.
Marathon Race - Usually 26 miles, 385 yards.
Vara - A Mexican unit of measure. In Texas per Stephen F. Austin, one Vara equals 33.5 inches, varies elsewhere.
Cordel - a rope measuring 50 or 100 Varas in length. (Varas vary by country)
Mexican League - 5,000 Varas or 2.6436 miles in Texas. (Varas vary by country)

Note: In the case of the Jules Verne book "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", the title and the line of dialogue in the book described a distance that had been traveled underwater, not the depth at which they traveled.

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