Centimeters to Egyptian Palms (cm to palm)

1 centimeter equals 0.1333333333 Egyptian palms (rounded).

1 centimeter = 0.1333333333 Egyptian palms

How to convert centimeters to Egyptian palms

To convert centimeters to Egyptian palms, multiply the number of centimeters by 0.1333333333. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply Egyptian palms by 7.5.

Egyptian palms = centimeters × 0.1333333333

Example: 10 centimeters = 1.333333333 Egyptian palms.

Approximate value. Standards for the Egyptian palm varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About these units

Centimeter (cm)

Metric (SI)Current unit

One hundredth of a meter. Used for body measurements, clothing and everyday objects.

Scientists, rather than shopkeepers, gave the centimeter its place. In 1832 Carl Friedrich Gauss proposed a system of absolute units built on length, mass and time, choosing the millimeter, milligram and second. In 1873 a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, whose members included James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), recommended the centimeter, gram and second instead. That CGS system dominated physics for decades, until the metre-kilogram-second system replaced it in the mid-twentieth century and led to SI.

CGS units proved awkward for rooms and buildings, which run to hundreds of centimeters, but the centimeter itself never went away. It is still the everyday unit for height, clothing and small objects, and it appears in map scales and rainfall reports. An adult fingernail is roughly one centimeter wide, and a milliliter is defined as exactly one cubic centimeter. An inch is exactly 2.54 centimeters. The CGS system itself survives mainly in theoretical physics and astrophysics, where Gaussian units are still common.

1 centimeter = 0.01 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Centimetre-gram-second system of units; Wikipedia: Centimetre; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

Egyptian Palm (palm)

Ancient EgyptianHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

One seventh of a royal cubit, about 7.5 cm. Four fingers (digits) made a palm.

Four finger widths side by side made one palm, the breadth of the hand across the knuckles without the thumb. Its Egyptian name is given as shesep, and modern writers also call it a hand or handsbreadth. Seven palms made a royal cubit, so the palm is a seventh of that rod and comes to 7.5 cm at a cubit of 52.5 cm. Ordinary common cubits in other cultures had only six palms, which is one reason Egyptian rods are easy to recognise.

Surviving rods show that the palm was a working division. Each rod was cut into seven palms, and the palms were split into fingers and finer fractions, so masons and carpenters could check a stone or a timber against a standard instead of their own hands. The palm shifts slightly with the cubit it comes from, since rods are measured at about 52.35 to 52.92 cm, giving palms of about 7.48 to 7.56 cm. Related units include the remen of five palms, about 37.5 cm, and a foot of four palms, close to 30 cm.

1 Egyptian palm = 0.075 meters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Ancient Egyptian units of measurement; Wikipedia: Cubit

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