Conversion: Meters to Feet and Inches

Those who are accustomed to expressing their heights in feet and inches find it hard to estimate the heights of NBA players when expressed in meters.  It can be easily done if we follow these simple steps:

  • express the measure in centimeters.
  • divide the number of centimeters by 30 to get the number of feet.
  • divide the remainder by 2.5 to get the number of inches (remember, 10 ÷ 2.5 = 4)

Note these conversions

  • 1.60 m = 160 cm ÷ 30 =  5 r 10 = 5 feet 4 inches
  • 1.95 m = 195 ÷ 30 =  6 r 15 = 6 feet 6 inches
  • 2.15 m = 215 ÷ 30 =  7 r 5 = 7 feet 2 inches
Again, we used 1 inch = 2.5 cm instead of the exact 1 inch = 2.54 cm. To make it more accurate we could deduct 0.5 cm per foot from the remainder of step B to make the conversion more accurate.
  • 1.60 m = 160 cm ÷ 30 =  5 r 10 -2.5  = 5 feet 3 inches
  • 1.95 m = 195 ÷ 30 =  6 r 15 – 3 = 6 feet 4.8 inches
  • 2.15 m = 215 ÷ 30 =  7 r 5 – 3.5  = 7 feet 0.6 inches