Inch Ruler (1/16 in)
An inch-first ruler with fractions down to 1/16 in on top. Calibrate once and measure in inches the way a real tape measure reads.
Display settings
Calibration details
Resulting density: 96.0 PPI · Not calibrated · estimate only
Verify against a physical reference. Different displays can report identical parameters; display changes cannot always be detected.
Press and drag across the ruler to measure a distance in cm and inches.
Keyboard: focus the ruler and press Enter to start at zero, then Tab to − or + to adjust.
Reading and using an inch ruler
The tick hierarchy
Inch rulers divide each inch by halving: 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16. On this ruler each level gets a shorter mark, so the pattern between two numbers reads long – short – medium – short – longer – short – medium – short – long. To read a position, find the last whole inch, then count the sixteenths.
Fractions, decimals and millimeters
Every sixteenth of an inch as a decimal and in millimeters, useful when a drawing gives one form and your tool the other.
| Fraction | Inches (decimal) | mm |
|---|---|---|
| 1/16 in | 0.0625 | 1.587 |
| 1/8 in | 0.1250 | 3.175 |
| 3/16 in | 0.1875 | 4.762 |
| 1/4 in | 0.2500 | 6.350 |
| 5/16 in | 0.3125 | 7.938 |
| 3/8 in | 0.3750 | 9.525 |
| 7/16 in | 0.4375 | 11.112 |
| 1/2 in | 0.5000 | 12.700 |
| 9/16 in | 0.5625 | 14.287 |
| 5/8 in | 0.6250 | 15.875 |
| 11/16 in | 0.6875 | 17.462 |
| 3/4 in | 0.7500 | 19.050 |
| 13/16 in | 0.8125 | 20.637 |
| 7/8 in | 0.8750 | 22.225 |
| 15/16 in | 0.9375 | 23.813 |
| 1 in | 1.0000 | 25.400 |
Feet and inches
Longer measurements are written as feet and inches. Divide inches by 12 for feet and keep the remainder as inches; 70 in is 5 ft 10 in. The unit converter shows feet alongside inches and millimeters.
Common imperial sizes
US Letter paper is 8.5 × 11 in and Legal 8.5 × 14 in; a standard business card is 3.5 × 2 in; a bank card 3.370 × 2.125 in; a nominal 2×4 stud actually measures 1.5 × 3.5 in. Lay any of them against the ruler to sanity-check the calibration, or read the metric equivalent on the centimeter ruler.
How to use this ruler
- Calibrate first; the home page explains the bank-card method (a card is 3.370 in wide).
- Keep the inch tab selected. Numbered marks are whole inches; the long unnumbered mark is 1/2, then 1/4, 1/8, and the shortest marks are 1/16.
- Align the object's edge with 0, read the last whole inch, then count sixteenths past it and reduce the fraction (8/16 = 1/2).
- Drag along the ruler for a readout in decimal inches and the nearest 1/16 fraction at once.