Egyptian Palms to Inches (palm to in)

1 Egyptian palm equals 2.952755906 inches (rounded).

1 Egyptian palm = 2.952755906 inches

How to convert Egyptian palms to inches

To convert Egyptian palms to inches, multiply the number of Egyptian palms by 2.952755906. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply inches by 0.3386666667 (rounded).

inches = Egyptian palms × 2.952755906

Example: 10 Egyptian palms = 29.52755906 inches.

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

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

Inch (in)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

1/12 of a foot. Defined as exactly 25.4 millimeters since 1959, when the US and Commonwealth countries agreed a common international inch.

Latin uncia, meaning one-twelfth, is the root of both inch and ounce, and it passed into Old English as ynce. Roman measurers divided their foot into twelve unciae, and the English inch kept that twelfth. After 1066 an inch was reckoned as three barleycorns, and a 1324 statute attributed to Edward II spelled out the definition as three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end lengthwise. For centuries the inch was simply a twelfth of a foot, or a thirty-sixth of a yard, and the US and UK each kept their own copy of the standard yard.

Those copies differed slightly until the 1959 international agreement fixed the yard at exactly 0.9144 meter, which made the inch exactly 25.4 millimeters. The US adopted it in 1959 and the UK ratified it in 1963, effective 1964. Today the inch is still the customary unit in the United States and Canada, and the UK keeps it on road signs. Worldwide it also names display diagonals, wheel rims, tire codes and pipe sizes.

1 inch = 0.0254 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Inch; Wikipedia: Yard; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

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