To convert meters to feet (m to ft), multiply by 3.2808399. 1 meter equals 3.2808399 ft, about 1.4 times as much as a tennis racket.
| meters | feet |
|---|---|
| 1 meter | 3.2808399 ft |
| 2 meters | 6.5616798 ft |
| 5 meters | 16.404199 ft |
| 10 meters | 32.808399 ft |
| 25 meters | 82.020997 ft |
| 50 meters | 164.04199 ft |
| 100 meters | 328.08399 ft |
| 250 meters | 820.20997 ft |
| 500 meters | 1,640.4199 ft |
| 1000 meters | 3,280.8399 ft |
Definition: The base unit of length in the metric system - every other metric length (km, cm, mm) is just meters multiplied or divided by a power of ten.
History: Born out of the French Revolution's push to replace a chaotic patchwork of local, often royally-defined units with something rational and universal. In 1793, French scientists defined the meter as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, measured along the meridian running through Paris - they actually sent surveyors out to physically measure the distance between Dunkirk and Barcelona to calculate it, a project that took years longer than planned. Today the meter is defined by something far more precise and impossible to argue with: the distance light travels in a tiny, fixed fraction of a second.
Current use: The foundation of virtually every length measurement outside the US - room dimensions, building heights, and race distances (measured in km) all build on it.
Definition: 12 inches, or exactly 0.3048 meters.
History: The foot traces back to the Roman "pes," and different versions of it were used across Greek, Roman, English, Chinese, and French systems, each a slightly different length depending on who was measuring. English legend credits King Henry I with standardizing it in the 12th century using his own foot as the template - likely a booted foot, since people (and their footwear) tended to run smaller back then. It took until 1959 for the US, UK, and four other countries to finally agree on one exact, shared definition.
Current use: Building and construction measurements, room dimensions, and aircraft altitude are still commonly given in feet, even in countries that otherwise use metric.
Since a foot is exactly 0.3048 metres by definition, this factor is exact rather than an approximation.
For a quick estimate, multiply by 3.3. That is off by about 0.6%, which is fine for a rough figure and not fine for anything you are paying for or building to. Use the exact factor of 3.28084 when it matters.
The reverse factor is 0.305, so one foot is that many meters. Two decimal places is plenty for most purposes, and three is more than a tape measure can justify.
To anchor the scale: 1 meter is about 3.28 ft.