Conversion factors

For Americans, in particular, this is the trickiest of the lot. Understanding kilometres and litres when all you’ve ever known is miles and gallons. To convert from the first unit shown to the second (e.g. miles to kilometres) multiply by the factor.

 

To convert from the second unit shown to the first (e.g. kilometres to miles) divide by the factor. So, if you wanted to know how many kilometres 150 miles was you would go 150 x 1.609 = 241 kilometres. Or if you are looking at a car with 56,000 kilometres on the clock and you want to know what that is in miles, you’d go 56,000 ÷ 1.609 = 34,800 miles. There. Easy!

 

AREA
square miles : square kilometres
square miles : hectares
square feet : square metres

2.59
258.999
0.093
FUEL CONSUMPTION
miles per gallon : kilometres per litre
miles per US gallon : kilometres per litre

0.354
0.425
TEMPERATURE
Fahrenheit = (Celsius 1.8) +32
Celsius = (Fahrenheit -32) x 0.5555
 
ELECTRICAL
NZ – 230 volts, 50 hertz
UK – 220 volts, 50 hertz
US – 110 volts, 60 hertz
 
LENGTH
miles : kilometres
yards : metres
feet : metres
inches : centimetres

1.609
0.914
0.305
2.54
CAPACITY
UK gallons : litres
US gallons : litres
quarts : litres
pints : litres

4.546
3.785
1.137
0.568
MASS
stones : kilograms
pounds : kilograms
ounces : grams

6.350
0.453
28.350