To convert feet and inches to centimeters, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Identify the conversion factors
There are two conversion factors that you need to know: 1 foot = 30.48 centimeters and 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters. These conversion factors will be used to convert the given values from feet and inches to centimeters.
Step 2: Write down the given values
Let’s say we have a length of 5 feet and 4 inches that we want to convert to centimeters. We will write this as 5 ft and 4 in.
Step 3: Convert feet to inches
Since there are 12 inches in 1 foot, we can convert the feet to inches by multiplying the given value by 12. Therefore, 5 ft is equal to 60 inches.
Step 4: Add the converted inches to the given inches
In our example, we had 5 ft and 4 in. Since we have converted 5 ft to 60 inches in the previous step, we can now add the given 4 inches to it to get a total of 64 inches. This step is important because we want to work with only one unit, which is inches, before converting it to centimeters.
Step 5: Convert inches to centimeters
Using the conversion factor of 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters, we can now convert the total inches we got in the previous step (64 inches) to centimeters by multiplying it by 2.54. Therefore, 64 inches is equal to 162.56 centimeters.
Step 6: Write the final answer
The final answer is 162.56 centimeters. This means that 5 feet and 4 inches is equal to 162.56 centimeters.
To summarize, to convert feet and inches to centimeters, we used two conversion factors (1 foot = 30.48 centimeters and 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters), converted feet to inches, added the converted inches to the given inches, and finally converted the total inches to centimeters. It’s important to carefully follow these steps in order to get an accurate conversion.