Foot (unit of length)

A foot is a non-SI unit of distance or length. The original standard was the length of a man's foot. There are twelve inches in one foot and three feet in one yard. See also weights and measures. The standardization of weights and measures has left several different standardized foot measures. \nThe most commonly used foot today is the imperial foot, which is defined to be exactly 0.3048 meters (that is, twelve inches of 0.0254 meters). This unit is sometimes denoted with a prime (e.g. 30′ means 30 feet), often approximated by an apostrophe. Similarly, inches can be denoted by a double prime (often approximated by a quotation mark), so 6′2″ means 6 feet 2 inches. The foot as a measure was used in almost all cultures. The first known standard foot measure was from Sumeria, where a definition is given in a statue of Gudea of Lagash from around 2575 BC.\nThe imperial foot was adapted from an Egyptian measure by the Greeks, with a subsequent larger foot being adopted by the Romans. In addition to the current standard imperial foot, there is also a slightly different U.S. survey foot, used only by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, defined as exactly 12 U.S. survey inches, approximately 30.48006 cm. (See inch for more on the survey inch.)

See also

\n* Historical weights and measures Category:Units of length\nCategory:Imperial units\nCategory:US customary units \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsimple:Foot\n