Forum:Metric Conversion

Hey everyone... I've noticed a few people having problems with metrics and converting them. To make it sound more natural (and therefore credible), and, as someone who has come from an imperial measure (i.e. feet, pounds, etc.) background to a metric background, I hope I can help those non-metric people out.

Weight
Weight conversion is easy. Just remember this: take the pounds and divide it by 2.2. That simple! So 220 pounds is 100 kilograms. 178 pounds is 80.9 kilograms. Usually, people round it to the nearest tenth (if they use a decimal point at all). I have seen some entries where people put 80.909 or 80.91... I don't know anyone who uses that many decimal points, so, if you are going to use one, just round it to the nearest tenth.

Height
Height is a little more complicated. 2.54 centimeters equals 1 inch. Each foot equals 12 inches (obviously) so someone who is 6 feet tall is 72 inches which is 183 centimeters or 1.83 meters. In height, we do carry it out to two decimal places most of the time. So, someone who is 5 foot 10 inches may range a bit in meters, i.e. I am 1.79 meters tall and 5'10" approximately, but someone exactly 5'10" could be 1.77 or 1.78 meters tall. Most people I know say, "I'm 1.79 meters tall" or even "I'm about 1.8 meters tall", although sometimes centimeters are used.

Distance
An easy way to remember approximate length of distance is 1 yard (3 feet) roughly is 1 meter. If you want a specific formula, this is yards multiplied by 0.9144 equals meters. For example, 200 yards would be 182.88 meters (specifically) or a character would usually say 183 meters or about 180 meters (hey, in such a large galaxy, why would a few meters be that important for something so far away?).

Anyway... hope this information helps with your entries and remember to keep it real! --usscantabrian 23:32, 2 April 2007 (UTC)