🌡️ Temperature
Fahrenheit to Celsius Converter
Enter a temperature in Fahrenheit and press Convert to get Celsius. 350 °F is 176.7 °C, the oven setting for most baking.
About the Fahrenheit to Celsius Converter
This is the direction US cooks and travellers need most: American recipes, weather forecasts and oven dials are in Fahrenheit, while most of the world reads Celsius. Subtract 32 first, then multiply by 5/9 — doing it in the other order gives an answer that is wrong by 17.8 °C.
For oven temperatures the useful shortcut is that 350 °F ≈ 175 °C and 400 °F ≈ 200 °C. A fan oven should then be set about 20 °C lower than the conventional figure.
How the calculation works
- °C = (°F − 32) × 5/9
- °F = (°C × 9/5) + 32
- 1 °F difference = 0.556 °C difference
Reference values
| Fahrenheit | Celsius | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 0 °F | −17.8 °C | Very cold, freezer |
| 32 °F | 0 °C | Water freezes |
| 68 °F | 20 °C | Room temperature |
| 98.6 °F | 37 °C | Body temperature |
| 212 °F | 100 °C | Water boils |
| 325 °F | 162.8 °C | Slow oven |
| 350 °F | 176.7 °C | Moderate oven |
| 450 °F | 232.2 °C | Hot oven |
Worked examples
- 400 °F − 32 = 368, × 5 ÷ 9 = 204.4 °C, a hot oven.
- 325 °F is 162.8 °C, the slow oven most sponge recipes use.
- 101 °F is 38.3 °C, a low-grade fever.
Checking the answer by hand
Subtract 32, halve the result, then add about a tenth. For 350 °F: 318, halved 159, plus 16 is 175 °C against an exact 176.7 °C. A result within 2 °C means you subtracted 32 first.
Common mistakes
- Multiplying by 5/9 before subtracting 32, which lands about 17.8 °C off.
- Using 1.8 as a divisor instead of 1.8 as a multiplier. °F = °C × 1.8 + 32, never ÷ 1.8.
- Assuming 350 °F is 180 °C. It is 176.7 °C; the round number is a convention, not a conversion.
A last check on the Fahrenheit table: 0 °F −17.8 °C sits at the base of the chart, and the rows above it step in the same proportion, so you can scale from that first row instead of reading every line. If a figure you were quoted falls between two rows, it is the Celsius side that has been rounded, not the conversion itself.