Convert kilometer to foot

Kilometer

Symbol

Kilometer is frequently represented by the symbol ‘km’. In the US, UK, and Canadian militaries, the word "klick" is a slang term of the kilometer.

Description

Kilometer is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one thousand meters. The kilometer is the preferred measurement unit to express distances between geographical places on land in most of the world. The United States and the United Kingdom are the notable exceptions where the statute mile is used.

A kilometer is equivalent to one thousand meters. So, one kilometer can be written in scientific notations as 1×10^3 m (engineering notation) or 1 E+3 m (exponential notation) — both meaning 10^3 × 1 m.

There are 0.621 statute miles in a kilometer. This means 1 statute mile is equivalent to 1.60934 kilometers. So to convert mile to km, multiply the mile with 0.621.

A kilometer is also equivalent to 3281 feet. In reverse, 1 foot equals 1/3281 kilometers. For calculation of km to yd (kilometer to yards), remember that there are 1094 international yards in a kilometer. If you want to convert nautical miles to km, then multiply kilometer value by 0.540.

History

The term kilometer was first used in the 1800s. It was introduced during the development and adoption of the metric system of weights and measures in France in the late 1700s.

The term "myriamètre"(preferring 10,000 meters) was used several times in 1802. It was used in the text of Develey's book Physique d'Emile: ou, Principes de la science de la nature.

It was first recorded as "kilometer' in 1800-1810. In 1835, French maps were published in which scales are shown in kilometers. The term "kilometer" first became an official unit in 1867  in the Netherlands representing 1000 meters.

Finally, the prefix "myria-" and the associated "myriametre" were officially removed by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) in 1935, designating the term "kilometer" as the accepted unit of length for measurements.

Use

This is the go-to unit for expressing land distances, road length etc.

Foot

Symbol

The foot is represented by the symbol ‘ft’ or often approximated by an apostrophe. For example, 5 feet is sometimes denoted as 5’.

Description

The Foot is a unit of length in the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. In both cases, one foot is equal to 12 inches.

For yard to foot calculations, one yard comprises of three feet. The standard measurement of a foot is exactly 0.3048 meters, which is equivalent to 304.8 millimeters. So for foot to meter conversion, multiply foot by 0.3048. 

Following that, there are 3.281 feet in a meter. While converting ft to cm, note that there are 0.0328 feet in a centimeter. So, one foot is equal to 30.48 centimeters. 

The measurement of a United States survey foot is exactly 1200 ⁄3937 meters or approximately 0.30480061 m. It is used for mapping and surveying. It is exactly 1,000,000/999,998 times the international foot which means that it is larger by 610 nm or nanometer.

History

The Old English word "fot" is where the word "foot" (meaning "terminal part of the leg of a vertebrate animal") came from.

Historically, the "foot" was a part of many regional systems of units, such as the Greek, Roman, Chinese, French, and English systems. The first recorded standard foot measure comes from Sumer, where a definition is given in a statue of Gudea of Lagash from around 2575 BC. 

Use

Feet is generally used for measuring height such as floor height, human height, short distances, elevation etc.