Convert meters to centimeters

cm = m × 100

This direction is what you need when a plan gives metres and the tape measure in your hand is marked in centimetres — which is almost every tape measure sold outside the United States.

Furniture catalogues across Europe and Latin America list dimensions in centimetres even for objects well over a metre: a sofa is "220 cm", not "2.2 m". The reason is practical. Centimetres keep the numbers whole, and whole numbers are easier to compare at a glance and harder to misread than decimals. A 1.6 m and a 1.65 m wardrobe look almost identical on paper; 160 and 165 do not.

Fabric works the other way round — it is sold by the metre, and cut to the centimetre. A pattern asking for 1.35 m means 135 cm on the cutting table.

Measure the space in centimetres, not metres, and subtract before you compare. A 240 cm wall with a 5 cm skirting board and a light switch 30 cm from the corner leaves far less usable width than "2.4 metres" suggests. Rounding to the nearest tenth of a metre hides exactly the few centimetres that decide whether something fits.

• 0.75 m = 75 cm — standard desk height
• 0.9 m = 90 cm — typical kitchen counter
• 2.1 m = 210 cm — common interior door height
• 2.4 m = 240 cm — common ceiling height

Working in imperial too? meters to feet covers the other side.

From the SI prefix centi, defined as one hundredth in the SI Brochure published by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). The metre it divides has been fixed by the speed of light since the 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1983, and ISO 80000-1 applies the same prefixes to every other SI unit.