📏 Length & height
159 cm in Feet
159 centimetres is 5 feet 2.6 inches, or 5.217 feet. That uses the international foot of exactly 0.3048 m, so the figure is exact to the precision shown.
The short answer
159 cm = 5 ft 2.6 in
Also written as 5.217 ft, or 62.60 inches.
About 159 cm in feet
159 cm is 5.217 ft because one foot is 30.48 cm: 159 ÷ 30.48 = 5.217. Going through inches gives the same answer and is easier to read: 159 ÷ 2.54 = 62.60 inches, which is 5 whole feet (60 inches) plus 2.60 inches.
Height is the one place where feet and inches are still used in everyday British and American writing, which is why a figure like 159 cm gets written both ways. 159 cm is below both adult medians, so it is a common figure for older children, so it reads naturally as 5′2.6″ on a form that asks for feet and inches.
For a passport, a medical record or a clothing size, quote 159 cm or 5 ft 2.6 in and not both: mixing the two invites a rounding argument. Two decimal places on 5.217 ft already represent about 3 mm, which is finer than any height measurement taken with a wall scale.
Written as a decimal, 159 cm is 1.59 m; in feet it is 5.217 ft, and in inches 62.60. Metric drawings use metres, British property listings use feet, and medical charts use centimetres, so all three turn up for the same 159 cm measurement.
159 cm in feet is the usual way to type this, and the answer is 5.217 ft, or 5 ft 2.6 in to the nearest tenth of an inch. Every one of those forms describes the same length, so pick the one the form in front of you asks for.
How the calculation works
- 159 cm ÷ 30.48 = 5.217 ft
- 159 cm × 0.0328084 = 5.217 ft
- 159 cm ÷ 2.54 = 62.60 in, then ÷ 12 = 5 ft 2.6 in
Reference values
| Centimetres | Feet and inches | Decimal feet |
|---|---|---|
| 154 cm | 5 ft 0.6 in | 5.052 ft |
| 155 cm | 5 ft 1 in | 5.085 ft |
| 156 cm | 5 ft 1.4 in | 5.118 ft |
| 157 cm | 5 ft 1.8 in | 5.151 ft |
| 158 cm | 5 ft 2.2 in | 5.184 ft |
| 159 cm | 5 ft 2.6 in | 5.217 ft |
| 160 cm | 5 ft 3 in | 5.249 ft |
| 161 cm | 5 ft 3.4 in | 5.282 ft |
| 162 cm | 5 ft 3.8 in | 5.315 ft |
| 163 cm | 5 ft 4.2 in | 5.348 ft |
| 164 cm | 5 ft 4.6 in | 5.381 ft |