How to Read a Tape Measure

Okay guys, this is a very simple and practical skill that a lot of young people today cannot do and are too embarrassed to ask. As you see in the picture below there are 16 marks in between each inch. the shortest mark is a 16th, the next tallest a 8th, then a 4th, next a half. 16th, 8th, quarter, half.

It’s vital you learn how to say these measurements. For instance, The blue mark is “five and one eighth.” For example, you should never say “five point five inches” it is “five and a half inches.”
Similarly, the orange mark is “six and a quarter inches” not “six and three fourths”
however, with green it would be “six and one sixteenth” (16th) and if it were one notch over it would be “six and one eighth”