Convert inches to cm and meters - how it works

For smartphone displays or televisions, the screen size is often given in inches. This practical tip shows you how you can convert this unit into cm and meters.

Convert inches to centimeters and meters

Inch is a British measure and is called "inch" in German. The unit is usually abbreviated with two small dashes after the number, for example 10 '' for 10 inches.

• 1 inch always corresponds to a length of 25.4 millimeters, i.e. 2.54 centimeters. So just multiply your value in inches by 2.54 to get the length in cm. Then divide by 100 to get the length in meters.
• Example: The iPad Air 2 has a screen size of 9.7 inches or 9.7 inches. In centimeters this is 9.7 x 2.54, i.e. about 16.34 centimeters. The iPad has a screen size of 0.1634 meters.
• If you want to go back to inches from centimeters, divide by 2.54 accordingly. So you can remember that the inch value is always smaller than the amount of the length in cm.
• Instead of converting everything yourself, you can also use an online converter such as Inches-to-cm.com or Rapidtables. Enter your value in inches and you will immediately receive the correct length in centimeters. Of course, it also works the other way around.

The next page shows how you can convert known units with the Windows calculator.