How to Read a Ruler?

We have all used a ruler in our life sometime or the other but how many of us really know the right way to read a ruler? The golden rule of measurement states that we need to measure twice but only cut once. So how do we go about reading a ruler in the right way? Read on to find out more.

The things that you need to read a ruler in the right way are:

1. A ruler measuring 12-inch.
2. Paper.
3. Something to make a mark like a pencil, pen, crayon or marker.

If you remember the ruler you know there are two sides to it; one is the metric and the other is the inch. Most of the countries around the world use the metric form of measurement and though ironically the inch is the English system of measurement; it is made use of only in the USA.

Let us start with the inch side of the ruler. The reading of the ruler is quite easy and there are 12-inches to make a foot, 3 feet that makes a yard and 1,760 yards that make a mile. The ruler used by the English system of measurement has the numbers from 1 to 12 on one side of it; these are the inches and there are lines located between each inch. These lines are read in the fraction form. For example if you want to draw a line from the beginning of the ruler to a line which is in between 2 and 3 it makes it 2 and 1/2 inches.

There are even ¼ inch marks on the ruler which are much smaller than the ½ inch marks and are located at every ¼ of an inch. If you start at the beginning of the ruler and go to the first ¼ inch your measurement will be a ¼ of an inch. There are also 1/8 inch lines and if you count 4 1/8 lines from the 2 inch mark your reading will be 2 and 4/8th of inches.

The Metric is the most normally used type of measurement used all over the world and are divided into tens using the decimal format. The units measure from small to big; from millimeter, centimeter, meter, decameter, hectometer and kilometer. The ruler has markings of millimeter and centimeter. There are 30 centimeters that make up a foot and the small lines between each centimeter are millimeters and there are 9 of them. Each inch has the equivalent of 2.54 centimeters.





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