How to Read a Ruler
One of the hardest things to do when reading measurements on a ruler is to read the measurements that are not marked by numbers. This can confuse children and adults. This can really mess up a job that you may have to do when it is based on measurements.
The rulers used in the United States are marked by numbers as well as line markings. The ruler can be read in feet and in inches. Let’s start with the basics; a ruler is 12” long. The lines that you see between inches represent sub inches, the longer the line the higher the measurements is.
To make this very easy, all you have to do is remember what the lines are for, the numbers represent the inches, and the line in the middle between the two numbers is half. The first line and the shortest line is the measurement of 1/16 of an inch, and then the next line is 1/8 of an inch, ¼ of an inch. Then there are measurements of 16/16 of an inch, 8/16 of an inch, then half an inch.
Then you have 4/16” of an inch, ¾ and 5/8”. These are the most common. The smaller inches are not really used. People today round to the nearest inch for extra inches. Only professions such as builders, contractors and construction workers work with every inch aspect of the ruler. Kids in school will learn to use the ruler and they will learn the basic ¼, 1/8, ½, ¾ and 1”.
For use homeowners, exact measurements have never been entirely necessary. We tend to round up and cut off the excess of what we don’t need. But we can get by on our basic understanding on the most common inches. Sad to say that many people only use rulers because they have a straight edge. We also tend to measure in feet when we are moving or installing a sink.
We also use rulers to measure the height of our children and even then if the measurements falls into an inch that we are not familiar we round up. There are rulers that are made that actually have every line marked on the ruler. These are contractor rulers but you can find them online. These rulers are a great way to teach the kids exactly how measurements work. It can be confusing when you don’t know if a 1/8 of an inch is bigger or smaller than a ¼ of an inch.
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