Part of the IT standards and organizations glossary:

The foot (symbolized ft) is the unit of displacement or length in the English foot-pound-second ( fps ) system. The unit gets its name from the fact that 1 ft is approximately the length of the foot of a full-grown human adult male.

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In scientific and engineering practice, the foot is almost never used; the meter (symbolized m) is preferred. To convert from feet to meters, multiply by 0.3048. To convert from meters to feet, multiply by 3.281.

In some older papers and literature, and among some scientists, the centimeter (symbolized cm) is sometimes used to express displacement. To convert from feet to centimeters, multiply by 30.48. To convert from centimeters to feet, multiply by 0.03281.

Also see displacement , meter , International System of Units ( SI ), and Table of Physical Units .

This was last updated in March 2011
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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