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 based on the length of the human foot. Since the human foot commonly varies in length from about 9.5 inches to 11.5 inches, there were naturally regional variations in what constituted a foot. Due to these variations, it was eventually decided upon internationally that a foot should be defined as exactly 0.3048 meters, leading to the current definition.

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).

Centimeter

Definition: A centimeter (symbol: cm) is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), the current form of the metric system. It is defined as 1/100 meters. One centimeter is equal to 0.393701 inches.

History/origin: The prefix "centi-" indicates a hundredth, and therefore one centimeter is equal to one hundredth of a meter. Metric prefixes range from factors of 10^-18 to 10^18 based on a decimal system, with the base (in this case the meter) having no prefix and having a factor of 1. Learning some of the more commonly used metric prefixes, such as kilo-, mega-, giga-, tera-, centi-, milli-, micro-, and nano-, can be helpful for quickly navigating metric units.

Current use: The centimeter, like the meter, is used in all sorts of applications worldwide (in countries that have undergone metrication) in cases where a smaller denomination of the meter is required. Height is commonly measured in centimeters outside of countries like the United States. Centimeters are widely used in everyday measurements, construction, tailoring, education, and scientific applications. They provide a convenient scale for measuring objects that are too large for millimeters but too small for meters.

Foot to Centimeter Conversion Table

How to Convert Foot to Centimeter