To convert meters to centimeters (m to cm), multiply by 100. 1 meter equals 100 cm, about 1.4 times as much as a tennis racket.
| meters | centimeters |
|---|---|
| 1 meter | 100 cm |
| 2 meters | 200 cm |
| 5 meters | 500 cm |
| 10 meters | 1,000 cm |
| 25 meters | 2,500 cm |
| 50 meters | 5,000 cm |
| 100 meters | 10,000 cm |
| 250 meters | 25,000 cm |
| 500 meters | 50,000 cm |
| 1000 meters | 100,000 cm |
Definition: The base unit of length in the metric system - every other metric length (km, cm, mm) is just meters multiplied or divided by a power of ten.
History: Born out of the French Revolution's push to replace a chaotic patchwork of local, often royally-defined units with something rational and universal. In 1793, French scientists defined the meter as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, measured along the meridian running through Paris - they actually sent surveyors out to physically measure the distance between Dunkirk and Barcelona to calculate it, a project that took years longer than planned. Today the meter is defined by something far more precise and impossible to argue with: the distance light travels in a tiny, fixed fraction of a second.
Current use: The foundation of virtually every length measurement outside the US - room dimensions, building heights, and race distances (measured in km) all build on it.
Definition: 1/100 of a meter - the "centi" prefix doing the same job it does in "century" or "cent."
History: Introduced alongside the meter itself during the French Revolution's metric overhaul, the centimeter was designed from the start to be a convenient, everyday-sized subdivision - a meter is often too big and a millimeter too small for describing things like a person's height or a book's thickness.
Current use: Height, everyday object sizes, and fabric measurements across most of the world; also the standard unit doctors use internationally for body measurements.