📏 Length & height
4′2″ in cm
4′2″ is 127 cm. Feet and inches are converted by taking the total inches first (4 × 12 + 2 = 50 in) and multiplying by 2.54.
The short answer
4′2″ = 127 cm
4 feet 2 inches, or 50 inches in total.
About 4′2″ in cm
4′2″ is 127 cm because one inch is exactly 2.54 cm. The working is 4 × 12 = 48 inches for the feet, plus 2 inches, giving 50 inches; 50 × 2.54 = 127 cm. Nothing is rounded along the way, so the answer is exact.
This notation is still how height is quoted in Britain, Ireland and the United States, while most of the rest of the world uses centimetres. 4′2″ sits below the 175 cm median adult man, which is the comparison most people are really making when they convert it.
On a form, write 127 cm rather than 4′2″, and keep the same precision throughout: if a chart plots 127, do not enter it as 4′2″ or as 127 cm, because the two roundings can disagree by a whole centimetre across a series of measurements.
Converting 4′2″ the other way is the same multiplication in reverse: 127 cm ÷ 2.54 = 50 inches, and 50 inches is 4′2″. Because 2.54 is exact, no rounding creeps in whichever direction you go; only the displayed precision changes.
Typed without the prime symbols, 4'2 in cm is the same question and has the same answer: 127 cm. Rounded to a whole centimetre that is 127 cm, and a tape measure marked in centimetres will read 127 rather than the exact decimal.
How the calculation works
- Total inches = 4 × 12 + 2 = 50 in
- 50 in × 2.54 = 127 cm
- 4′2″ in metres = 1.2700 m
Reference values
| Height | Centimetres |
|---|---|
| 4′0″ | 121.92 cm |
| 4′1″ | 124.46 cm |
| 4′2″ | 127 cm |
| 4′3″ | 129.54 cm |
| 4′4″ | 132.08 cm |
| 4′5″ | 134.62 cm |
| 4′6″ | 137.16 cm |
| 4′7″ | 139.7 cm |
| 4′8″ | 142.24 cm |
| 4′9″ | 144.78 cm |
| 4′10″ | 147.32 cm |
| 4′11″ | 149.86 cm |