It’s helpful to follow along with a real-world example to see how feet are converted to inches. Let’s say that you want to know how long the wall of your room is in inches. If the wall is eight feet long, start by writing this measurement down, like this: 8 feet
In the example problem, you would continue by writing a “× 12” after the foot measurement, then multiplying to find the answer, like this: 8 feet × 12 = 96
In the example problem, label your answer like this: 8 feet × 12 = 96 inches
To convert your answer in the example problem back into feet, divide it by 12 like this: 96 inches ÷ 12 = 8 feet
As another example problem, let’s say that you are five feet, three inches tall and that you want to figure out exactly how tall you are in just inches. Start by writing just the number of feet, like this: 5 feet
In the example problem, multiply like this: 5 feet × 12 = 60 inches
In the example problem, finish finding your height in inches like this: 5 feet × 12 = 60 inches + 3 inches = 63 inches
A remainder is just the number “left over” when two numbers don’t divide evenly. For example, four goes into 12 exactly three times, but five doesn’t fit into twelve perfectly — it goes in twice to make 10, then it only fits in partly the third time. 5 × 2 = 10, which is two less than twelve, so we say that we have a remainder of two (or R2). In other words, five goes into twelve twice, then we need to add an “extra” two to get to twelve. In the example problem, get back into feet and inches like this: 63 inches / 12 = 5 R3 → 5 feet 3 inches
