Convert miles to inches

Symbol

The mile symbol ‘m’ was frequently employed before the widespread adoption of the metric system. However, "mi" became the standard mile symbol after the metric system to avoid confusion between miles and meters.

Description

Mile is a British imperial Unit and United States customary unit of distance. Sometimes the statute mile or international mile distinguishes it from other miles. Both miles are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English feet, or 1,760 yards.

For length conversion calculation from miles to meter, you need to multiply the mile value by 1609.344. This means one mile is standardized as exactly 1609.344 meters.

Converting mile to kilometers, a mile is exactly 1.609344 kilometers. So, a kilometer is equivalent to 1/1.609344 miles. In case of mile to inches conversion, 63,360 inches make a mile. While inch is a much smaller unit, nautical mile is larger than mile. To be precise, a mile is equal to 0.868976 nautical miles.

The term "mile" is also used to describe or translate a wide variety of units that are derived from or substantially equivalent to the Roman mile (about 1.48 km). That includes the nautical mile (now 1.852 km exactly), the Italian mile (roughly 1.852 km), and the Chinese mile (now 0.5 km or 500 m exactly).

History

Mile originated from the Roman mille passus, or “thousand paces,” which measured 5,000 Roman feet or footsteps. The Romans invented and used this unit 2,000 years ago. They introduced it to the world when they conquered Britain.

Use

Mile is used for expressing land distances between locations. Although Kilometer is more predominantly used these days, many countries use mile for the purpose.

Symbol

The inch is represented by the letters in or a double straight quotation mark (“). For example, 5 inches is written as 5 in or 5”. 

Description

Inch is one of the smaller units of length measurement in the British imperial and the United States customary system of measurement. This estimation is thought to have derived from the width of the human thumb. The word ‘inch’ was derived from the Roman word "uncia" (twelfth).

In the past, there have been multiple standards regarding the exact measurement of an inch. However, with the adoption of the international yard during the 1950s and 1960s, the inch has been based on the metric system and defined as exactly 25.4 mm.

So it is quite easy to convert centimeter to inch or in to cm. According to the international scales, there are 2.54 centimeters in an inch. So inversely, an inch is equivalent to 1/2.54 centimeters.

For inch to foot conversion, note that one foot is equal to 12 inches. So, while doing ft to in conversion just divide the inch digits by 12 since an inch is equivalent to 1/12 feet. For in to yard conversion, an inch is equivalent to 1/36 yard.

History

Inch was used in the Textus Roffensis in 1120. It is the only surviving manuscript from the Laws of Æthelberht (which dates to the early 7th century). It is the earliest known reference to the inch in England. 

King Edward II of England proclaimed in 1324 that one inch was equivalent to three barley grains put end to end lengthwise. But as the barley grains' size could not be fixed, there was a possibility of having error in standardizing inch by this defintion. Actually before the establishment of the international yard and pound, numerous definitions were used for inch.

In 1912, US and UK followed different definitions of inch measurement. Carl Edvard Johansson then reached a compromise. He produced gauge blocks with a nominal size of 25.4 mm that were accurate to within a few parts per million of both official standards. Because of the popularity of Johansson's blocks, several countries began using 25.4 mm as the inch between 1930 and 1964. It became known as the industrial inch. And this has since become the new official measurement of the inch. 

Use

Inch is mostly used in countries following the FPS (foot-pound-second) system of units. It is sometimes used for measuring small dimensions such as mobile display or electronic parts.