Length
Kilometres down to millimetres plus exact US units – miles, yards, feet and inches in one editable table. Edit, print and share.
The length table in chain form: 1 km = 1 000 m and on down to millimetres – plus the exact US units, from 1 mi = 1.609344 km to 1 in = 2.54 cm. Made for the classroom and home.
| 1 km | = | 1 000 m |
|---|---|---|
| 1 m | = | 10 dm |
| 1 dm | = | 10 cm |
| 1 cm | = | 10 mm |
| 1 m | = | 100 cm |
| 1 m | = | 1 000 mm |
| 1 dm | = | 100 mm |
| 1 cm | = | 0.01 m |
| 1 mi | = | 1.609344 km |
| 1 yd | = | 0.9144 m |
| 1 ft | = | 0.3048 m |
| 1 in | = | 2.54 cm |
How the table works
Every row is a unit conversion: a quantity and unit on the left, the same quantity expressed in another unit on the right. The table is live – drag the handle to reorder, click a row to change the quantity or units, remove rows with the cross and add your own at the bottom.
Everything you change lands in the page address. Copy the link and others open exactly your table – handy when the whole class needs the same sheet. Your changes are also kept in your browser until you reset them, but only there: to share or keep them permanently, the link is what counts.
Print puts the table on a single portrait A4 and Download PDF gives you the same sheet as a file. Print practice sheet gives the table with empty answer cells and name/date lines – the normal printout is the answer key.
The decimal point moves different distances
The length chain is special: the steps differ in size. From kilometre to metre the jump is ×1 000, then ×10 per step down to millimetre. That is why the decimal point sometimes moves one place and sometimes three.
Common mistake: 1 m = 100 cm, not 10. Centi means one hundredth – metre to centimetre is two ten-steps.
One Swedish quirk worth knowing: the mil, exactly 10 km – not the same as a mile. It is available in the editor if you need it.
Roughly how long?
- A door is roughly 2 m tall.
- An eraser is roughly 4 cm long.
- A fingernail grows roughly 1 mm a week.
- A mile is roughly a 20-minute walk.
US units in metric
The table includes the exact US units – inch, foot, yard and mile – alongside the metric chain, and the editor offers all of them, so you can build rows in either direction. All four factors are exact by definition (1 in = 2.54 cm). Mind the false friend: an English mile (about 1.6 km) is not a Swedish mil (exactly 10 km).
Frequently asked questions
How many centimetres are there in a metre?
1 m = 100 cm. Metre to centimetre is two ten-steps: 1 m = 10 dm and 1 dm = 10 cm.
How many kilometres are there in a mile?
1 mi = 1.609344 km exactly – call it 1.6 km, or five miles is about eight kilometres.
How many millimetres are there in a centimetre?
1 cm = 10 mm – one chain step, the decimal point moves one place.
More tables: Mass · Volume · Prefix ladder · Length converter