How to Read a Tape Measure

Reading a tape measure may not be something you learn in school, but chances are you'll have to do it at one time or another. Demystify those little marks on tape measures and learn how to read between the lines.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Look at the big number that's nearest to, but before the mark you're trying to read. It should be a whole number. That's how many inches you're measuring. If the mark you're reading falls on a whole number, then that number is all the information you need.

2. Count how many marks there are in between each inch if the mark you're reading doesn't fall on a whole number. Most tape measures will divide an inch into 16 equal parts, or sixteenths, but some only go down to eighths.

3. Start at the whole number you found nearest your desired mark and count the number of marks between the whole number and the spot you're trying to read.

4. Read the final number as "inch and fraction." For example, if your nearest whole number is two and there are five marks between your spot and the whole number, then your measurement would be "two and five-sixteenths" (on a tape measure with inches divided into 16 equal parts).

5. Simplify the number, if necessary. Fractions are expressed in the smallest numbers possible, so twelve sixteenths would be reduced to three fourths.

Resources

• Find more information on how to read a tape measure at Lowes