Q&A for How to Read a Ruler

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What is 55.5? Is that larger than 55 1/4?

Community Answer

The 55.5 is larger than 55 1/4. the .5 on the 55.5 would equal 1/2. Therefore, 55.5 is equal to 55 1/2 which is 1/4" larger than 55 1/4.

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Question

Can I learn to read a ruler in one day?

Community Answer

Yes, but it really depends on what type of ruler you want to learn as well as how fast you pick up new material

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Question

What does it mean when mm is shown just beside the 0 in a ruler?

Community Answer

Each small line represents 1mm. Therefore, the first line past the big number (for instance 25) will represent 25.1cm or 251mm.

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Question

Where can I find the centimeter markers on a ruler?

Community Answer

The centimeters side is usually the part of the ruler where the markers are shorter and closer together. It reads cm, and has more numbers.

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Question

What does 0.75 cm look like?

Community Answer

It's in the middle between the 7th and 8th millimeter lines in a centimeter. In other words, it ends in the middle of the second half of a centimeter.

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Question

Is 7/8 larger than 1 inch?

Community Answer

7/8 is smaller than 1 inch. 1 inch represents a whole, while 7/8 represents 7 parts of a whole (8 parts).

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Question

Is 12 inches longer than a foot? I am feeling stumped by this.

Community Answer

They're the same 12in = 1ft.

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Question

Why there is a space at the beginning of a ruler?

Community Answer

Some lower quality rulers have spaces at the beginning to make the rulers easier to use. Higher quality rulers are often made of non-elastic materials like steel or aluminum, and their markings start without any space.

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Question

Is 5.5 mm closer to a half inch or a quarter inch?

Community Answer

A quarter inch. 6 mm is almost a quarter inch, whereas half an inch looks closer to 12-13 mm, so 5.5 would be close to a quarter of an inch.

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Question

Why are there five holes in my 12" ruler?

Community Answer

So you can put the ruler in a 3- or 5-ring binder to use in school or in an office environment.

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Question

How do I read centimeters on a ruler?

Community Answer

1 centimeter is equivalent to .39 inches. Many rulers come with centimeters marked on them, but a little math is required if that is not the case.

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Question

What does 4.5mm look like on a ruler?

Community Answer

This measurement would be the same as 4 1/2 mm. In other words, this measurement would be halfway in between 4 and 5 mm on a ruler.

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Question

Which value is larger, .4 or .5?

Community Answer

.5 is larger because .4 is equal to 4/10, which reduces down to 2/5 and .5 is equal to 5/10. This reduces to 1/2, and 1/2 is larger than 2/5.

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Question

Regarding the centimeters, I'm confused about the 10 lines. I see 11 lines, counting the 0.5 mm. Shouldn't the 0.5 mm count as well?

Community Answer

You aren't really counting the lines -- you are counting the spaces. The "first" line and the "second" line are the start and end of the first millimeter. The "second" line and the "third" line are the start and end of the second millimeter. If you insist on "counting lines," then start with 0 for the first line. Every line after that will give you the total number of "spaces" or millimeters that you are looking for.

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Question

What is 1/8 of a ruler?

Community Answer

The 1/8 marks are the smaller marks found directly between the 1/4 marks. There are 96 1/8 marks on a 1-inch ruler.

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Question

Is there a 30 and a half inch mark on the 30 inch ruler?

Community Answer

The measurement marks on a ruler go up to 30. The ruler itself (including the plastic) is 31 inches long.

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Question

Where is the 16th on a ruler?

Community Answer

The 16th is the second small mark on a ruler, because it takes 2 mm to make a 16th.

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Question

How do I convert 9.906 millimeters to inches?

Community Answer

Since one inch is defined as 25.4 mm, you would need to divide 9.906 by 25.4, which would give you 0.39 inches.

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Question

How do I find inches on a ruler?

Community Answer

You should see the word "inch" printed near a particular type of mark, which would tell you which lines indicate inches. Normally, the inch lines will be the longest lines on the ruler if the measurements are on one side.

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Question

How many inches are in a foot?

Community Answer

Twelve inches are in a foot.

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Question

Where is 2/3" on a ruler?

Community Answer

It would be between 1/2" and 3/4" (between-inch subdivisions on a ruler are in halves, quarters, eighths, etc., not thirds).

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Question

How do I find quarter inches on a ruler?

Community Answer

It is half of the half inch. For example, if you were looking for the 4 1/4, then you would look at the mark between the 4 in and the 4 1/2 (4.5) and that would be a quarter inch.

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Question

Is 1/4" the same as 10 mm on a ruler?

Community Answer

No, 1/4" is only 6.35 mm.

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Question

How many inches are in 1.3 cm?

Community Answer

1/2". Mark 1.3 cm on paper then place ruler inch side up and you will see it is 1/2". On metric ruler, (mm or cm) the smaller lines are mm and the larger lines are cm. A foot is 30.48 cm. There are 10mm in each cm.

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Question

Why do you have to make even number fractions on the ruler odd?

Community Answer

We can only count the odd numbers since even numbers have fractions with a small denominator.

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Question

How do I know if my ruler can fit in a binder?

Community Answer

Check the height of the binder; if it is smaller than 12 inches (30cm), then the rule it won't fit, since all rulers are 12 inches (30cm) long.

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Question

I'm pleating a face mask. Instructions say each pleat should be 2cm. How do I measure that in inches?

Oliviarose9

Community Answer

Half an inch is a about a centimeter, so measure an inch and you should be fine (it is a fraction more but an inch will be fine).

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Question

If an inch is divided into 12 equal parts, what is each unit of the 12 parts called?

Community Answer

The answer will be centimeters because on a ruler the centimeter units are 1 lower than the inch units.

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Question

Who created the ruler?

Community Answer

The first documented (1851) inventor of the folding ruler is Anton Ullrich. A flexible ruler was later invented by Frank Hunt (1902). However, people would likely have made measuring rules, sticks, etc. from the dawn of civilization.

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Question

Where is .6 on a ruler? Is it a notch past the half inch mark?

Community Answer

It is the 3/8 notch. The .6 notch is two notches before the half inch mark on the ruler.

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