Converting Meters to Feet

HubPages has asked “how many feet in a meter?” and the answer is “there are 3.280839895 feet in a meter.” Normally one would answer the question by saying “a meter contains a little over 3 feet” or “a meter is equal to about 3.3 feet”. However, with the aid of a computer it is possible to easily calculate exactly how many feet there are in a meter. Because it is so easy to write such conversion programs, the Internet is full of them. Therefore, whenever you need to convert something from one unit of measurement to another, simply go to Google or another search engine and type convert meters to feet or something similar and you will have access to hundreds of conversion programs. Or, just bookmark the first link below and it will take you to the site where I got the answer above.

The reason we have to make such conversions is that the United States and some other countries still use the traditional British system of weights and measures while much of the rest of the world, including Great Britain, now use the Metric system of measurement that was developed by the French during the French Revolution.

Actually, Thomas Jefferson, when he was George Washington's Secretary of State, proposed a metric type system for the U.S. before the French developed and put their metric system in use. Jefferson, who had previously served as ambassador to France, enlisted the help of French scientists in developing his proposed system. Like the present metric system, Jefferson's system was a decimal system, like our number system, which would have made calculating measurements very easy in contrast to our present system where:

12 inches = 1 foot

3 feet = 1 yard

5,280 feet = 1 mile

1,760 yards = 1 mile

While he failed to win Congressional approval for a new system of weights and measures based upon a decimal system, Jefferson did succeed in getting the other part of his proposal enacted and that was a money system based upon decimals. This made American money calculations very easy when compared to the old British system of pence, schillings, guineas and pounds.

While America still clings to the ancient British system of measurement, globalization is slowly moving us to the metric system as more and more tools and goods come calibrated in metric, rather than traditional feet and pounds.