I do not know how to convert a feet decimal

Question

I have a height of 6.075 but need to convert in to normal form(1'5"). how do i do this.I have a math fair project coming up and have no clue how to change this.

Answer 1

A height of 6.075 (without any units) is meaningless.
A height of 6.075 feet, or 6.075 meters, or 6.075 furlongs, or 6.075 light-seconds is useful.

So when you are working on a word problem, always label the numbers with their units. Do this even when you are in the middle of the problem.

With most units, you can convert between units by multiplying by 1. For example:

• To convert from feet to inches, multiply by 12 inches per foot.
• To convert from meters to centimeters, multiply by 100 centimeters per meter.
• To convert from inches to centimeters, multiply by 2.54 centimeters per inch.
• To convert from light-seconds to meters, multiply by 299,792,458 meters per light-second.

To convert in the other direction, you also multiply by 1. But this time, you use the inverse of the fraction. Either way, you are designing the conversion factor so that the units you have (but don't want) will cancel out, leaving the units you want.

• To convert from inches to feet, multiply by 1 foot per 12 inches.
• To convert from centimeters to meters, multiply by 1 meter per 100 centimeters.
• To convert from centimeters to inches, multiply by 1 inch per 2.54 centimeters.
• To convert from meters to light-seconds, multiply by 1 light-second per 299,792,458 meters.

Converting from 17 inches to 1 foot 5 inches involves long division. At each step, you break out the part that you can specify exactly, and continue converting the remainder. For example:

1 light-second
= 1 light-second * $\frac{299,792,458\,meters}{light-second}$
= 299,792,458 meters * $\frac{100\,cm}{meter}$
= 29,979,245,800 cm * $\frac{inch}{2.54\,cm}$
~ 11,802,852,677.165 inches * $\frac{foot}{12\,inch}$
~ 983,571,056.5816… feet
~ 983,571,056 feet + 0.5816… feet * $\frac{12\,inch}{foot}$
~ 983,571,056 feet + 6.98 inches
~ 983,571,056 feet * $\frac{mile}{5,280\,feet}$ + 6.98 inches
~ 186,282.397 miles + 6.98 inches
~ 186,282 miles + 0.396… miles * $\frac{5,280\,feet}{mile}$ + 6.98 inches
~ 186,282 miles + 2,096 feet + 6.98 inches
~ 186,282 mi 2,096' 6 $\frac{49}{50}$"

Some gotchas

Most people use 2.54 centimeters per inch to convert between metric lengths and U.S. customary lengths. But for some purposes, the conversion is 3600 meters per 3937 yards.

Some conversions need an offset. For example, 0°C is not the same as 0°F.

Sometimes people need to make tables of data. They will usually put numbers in the body of the table, and put the units in either a column heading, or in the description of the table. In these situations, you should still think of each value as having both the number and the units.