Question

Use the unit-fraction method to convert 5 feet into centimeters. Use 1 ft = 12 in and 1 in = 2.54 cm. Show work. Don’t round.

Answer 1

We can convert 5 feet into centimeters by means of the unit-fraction method as follows

$\begin{gathered} 5ft=5ft\times1\times1 \\ \\ \end{gathered}$

where the first number one can be written as

$1=\frac{12in}{1ft}$

and the second number one as

$1=\frac{2.54\operatorname{cm}}{1in}$

By substituting these results into our first equation, we get

$5ft=5ft\times\frac{12in}{1ft}\times\frac{2.54\operatorname{cm}}{1in}$

which gives

$5ft=\frac{5ft\times12in\times2.54\operatorname{cm}}{1ft\times1in}$

we can cancel feets and inches our from the numerator and denominator an the result is 5ft = 152.4 cm