How do I convert kilometers to decimeters?
Move the decimal point four places to the right, ie multiply by 10,000. There are 1,000 metres in a kilometre and 10 decimetres in each metre.
A 5 km run is 50,000 dm, and 0.3 km is 3,000 dm.
Decimetres barely appear outside school worksheets, though a litre is exactly one cubic decimetre, which is where the unit quietly earns its keep.
What is a kilometer?
A kilometer is 1,000 meters, or about 0.621 miles. 'Kilo' is the Greek-derived prefix for a thousand. It is the unit for road distances nearly everywhere except the US and UK, which still use miles.
A kilometer is about 3,281 feet or 39,370 inches. At a walking pace of 5km/h it takes about 12 minutes to cover.
Going from kilometers to meters just means moving the decimal point three places. A mile has to be broken into 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet first, and neither of those is a round number of anything.
What is a decimeter?
A decimeter (dm) is one tenth of a meter, or 10 centimeters. The 'deci' is the SI prefix for 10^-1.
The decimeter is rarely used by itself, since people go from centimeters straight to meters. You mostly meet it as the cubic decimeter, which is exactly one liter.
A decimeter is about 3.937 inches, so just under four. Divide inches by 3.937 – or multiply by 0.254 – to go the other way.