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-   -   Km.--Miles converter (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/km-miles-converter-222728/)

Pat May 20th, 2002 10:21 AM

Km.--Miles converter
 
Can anyone give me a website or easy way to convert Km. to miles. You see lots of currency converters--a milage one would be nice! We will be driving in Ireland in about three weeks.

Wayne May 20th, 2002 10:28 AM

You don't need a converter if you can remember how to do sixth grade math. All you need to remember is that kilometers are shorter than miles, and one mile is about 1.6 km. For ease of conversion, use a factor of 0.6 to multiply km and arrive at miles. To convert miles to km, multiply the miles by 0.6 and then add the original number of km to the result. Or divide the km by 0.6 to get the miles. These results will be accurate to within a few percent, which is plenty good for us travelers.

Liz May 20th, 2002 10:32 AM

Here's a handy site:<BR>http://teaching-english-in-japan.net/conversion/miles

wes fowler May 20th, 2002 10:36 AM

Distances in Ireland are calculated in miles, not kilometers, Pat. You needn't worry about conversion factors.

xxx May 20th, 2002 10:51 AM

The lovely thing about Ireland's road signs is that SOME of the distances are shown in miles, some in km, usually without an indication as to which is which. Don't worry too much about it, you'll get there sometime....

Tony May 20th, 2002 08:55 PM

Divide miles by 5, then multiply by 8 to get kilometres. I.e., 50 miles = 80 kms.<BR>Divide Kms by 8 , then multiply by 5 to get miles.

Sue May 20th, 2002 11:37 PM

Divide kilometers in half and add 10% of the original number. 120 km = 72 miles (approx)

MileKing Apr 25th, 2004 01:20 PM

Do rental car odometers in Ireland measure miles or kilometers?

ira Apr 25th, 2004 01:25 PM

&gt;Do rental car odometers in Ireland measure miles or kilometers?&lt;

The newest ones with electronic odometers do both.

The newer ones do either miles or km.

The very old ones measure in furlongs.

m_kingdom2 Apr 25th, 2004 01:41 PM

Why does it matter, 100km is longer than 10km it's all relative, if the speed limit is 120km then you don't do much over that. Currency is different, you have to pay for that out of your native currency so a conversion is very important. Distance is distance don't worry about such little matters, and as people have said some basic mathematics will solve this burning issue.

ezlivin Apr 25th, 2004 01:42 PM


The odomoter will have your SPEED in km and miles.
HOWEVER, your distance traveled will be in Kilometers.

Clifton Apr 25th, 2004 05:40 PM


Our experience too is that the odometer's always been in kilometers (std Euro setup). Most distance road signs have been in miles, but not all. As said on one of the older posts - sometimes you just can't tell which it is. Driving in Ireland is a lot of fun, but moreso when you just take to trip at its own pace.

Clifton Apr 25th, 2004 05:43 PM


Odometer in kilometers (unless the fancy variety as seen on some US models). Speedometer in both.

ekellyga Apr 25th, 2004 06:13 PM

to estimate, multiply the KM times 6 and drop the last digit.

60 km becomes 6 x 60 = 360 means 36 KM

100 kph 6 x 100 = 600 means 60 mph

StCirq Apr 25th, 2004 07:18 PM

The way I learned it was to multiply miles by 5 and divide by 8 to get kilometers. Still works for me.

Singletail Apr 26th, 2004 12:46 AM

Personally, you shouldn;t worry about any of it.

If you do then the ONLY number you need to remember is &quot;point 6&quot; (.6)

To get miles from that 120 Km above, MULTIPLY it by .6 120 X .6 = 72 miles

To get Kilometers from those miles then
DIVIDE by .6 72 divided by .6 = 120 Km

FORGET about the &quot;sixth grade math&quot; multiplying by 5 and dividing by 8, adding whatever &quot;percent&quot; etc.

While these other people are still doing the &quot;hard math&quot; calculations, you'll already have arrived.

Enjoy your trip!

Neil_Oz Apr 26th, 2004 02:20 AM

And when you get home, start campaigning for the United States to drop those antiquated British Imperial measurements and go metric (it's less painful than you'd think).

pnestor Apr 26th, 2004 03:42 AM

a foot note to the posts that say &quot;you can't tell the difference on the signs if the distance is in miles or Km. You can -

older signs in miles - white background black writing

new signs in Km - green background white writing


FlyFish Apr 26th, 2004 04:04 AM

If you're driving a car with both mph and kph shown on the speedometer (usually one set of numbers under the other) you can quickly convert roadsign distances by just looking at the speedometer scale - for example, you'll find 100 kph just under (or over) 60 mph, therefore 100 kilos = 60 miles, etc.

RufusTFirefly Apr 26th, 2004 12:08 PM

Nah, metric is sooooooooo boring. Down with the cookie-cutter approach to life.


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