Got questions about decimals and fractions?Our expert guides will teach you how to convert decimals to fractions and how to add and subtract fractions. Example: You’re measuring the length of a strand of hair. The strand comes to the ninth line after 16 cm on the ruler. This would mean the strand is 16.9 cm long (that’s 16 cm + 9 mm). Metric rulers usually have only centimeters and millimeters on them. But did you know there's an even tinier unit called nanometers? Learn how to convert nanometers to metersand other measurements with our in-depth guide.

There are two types of rulers you can use: the inch, or imperial, ruler and the centimeter, or metric, ruler.

Example: If you were to measure the width (instead of length) of a piece of computer paper, the piece should come up exactly to the 1/2 inch line between 8 and 9 inches, indicating that the width is 8 1/2 (8.5) inches. All of these resources, in addition to the handful of practice questions we gave you above, should be enough to get you reading a ruler in no time at all! A sufficiently wide range of colors to meet the needs of all children who will benefit from using a colored overlay product

You’re measuring a pair of glasses, from the end of one lens to the far end of the other lens. Your ruler reaches the seventh line past 12 cm. How long is the pair of glasses?The Eye Level Reading Ruler is a coloured overlay filter and text highlighter about the size of an eight-inch ruler. It is discreet and professional-looking and can be kept in a book as a bookmark for easy storage. This Dyslexia Friendly resource helps relieve the symptoms of Visual Stress.

Like the inches ruler, you’ll see tons of lines on a metric ruler, with some longer and some shorter. Each line represents 1 millimeter, which is equal to 1/10 or 0.1 cm (so 10 mm make up 1 cm). The middle-length line on a metric ruler is the 1/2 (0.5) centimeter line, which comes midway between every centimeter (in other words, it's the fifth line after every whole centimeter): Now, notice the lines between each inch, with some longer and some shorter than others. Each of these tiny lines represents a fraction of an inch. There are five different lengths of lines in total. In this guide, we’ll explain why you should know how to read a ruler and give you step-by-step instructions on how to read a ruler in inches and cm. We’ll also provide you with some helpful resources you can use to keep honing your ruler-reading skills.

Example: Say you’re measuring a piece of cloth and the ruler ends at the fourth line after the 10-inch mark. This would mean that the cloth is 10 1/4 (10.25) inches long. If you counted in 1/4 inches on a ruler, you'd see that the fourth line after 0 inches equals 1/4 inch, the eighth line equals 2/4 (1/2) inch, and the 12th line equals 3/4 inch. Example: Say you're measuring the width of your smartphone, and it comes up to the fifth line after 4 cm on your ruler. This would mean that the phone is 4.5 cm (45 mm) wide.