You always need to know how to read a ruler when building even the most elementary things. So it's important to learn how to do this.
We will take a common example. You might encounter the next measurement: 5' 10-5/8''. The first thing you need to understand is the notation. ' is used to represent the feet. '' is used to represent the inches. So the way you should read our example is “five feet, ten and five eights inches”. But this can get a bit hard so it is often used like this: 70-5/8''. This would be read as “seventy and five eights inches”. This notation is perfectly equivalent with the first. This is because a foot is equal with 12 inches. So 5 feet will be equal to 5 times 12 inches. That is 60 inches.
The problem when reading a ruler is not with the feet and inches. But with the subdivisions of the inches. This is because each inch is divided in 16 subdivisions. And the lines of the subdivisions have all different lengths. Let's see what each length means.
In the middle there is a long line, the longest. That line indicates the half inch or 8/16 ''. The next longest line stands for the ¼''. That is equivalent to 4/16''. The third is the 1/8 ''. Or 2/16 ''. The final line is the 1/16.
When you first start to read a ruler you might find it difficult. But in time it will become easier and easier to recognize the lengths and what they represent. You should first try to always recognize the ½'' measure. And once you are comfortable with it you can move along to the next lengths. It is not that difficult once you understood the way the units are divided. As you have clarified this issue from now it's just a matter of memory.
