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Feet–inch–fraction

How ConstructionPal reads and shows dimensions — feet, inches, fractional inches, decimal inches, and why the fraction you see is never the whole story.

Feet–inch–fraction

ConstructionPal speaks tape measure. A dimension is feet, inches, and a fractional inch — 12′ 4 7/16″ — entered as one value and always shown with its decimal equivalent beside it.

Entering dimensions

  • Feet and inches together: 7′ 9″, 12′ 4 7/16″.
  • Inches alone: 9 5/8″ — no feet required.
  • Fractions alone: 3/16″ works as an entry.
  • Decimal inches to four places: 4.75″ is accepted anywhere a dimension goes and is treated exactly.
  • Metric: metres, centimetres, and millimetres are accepted as operands too — see Units & rounding.

Reading answers

Every answer shows both forms:

  • The fraction form, rounded to your smallest-fraction setting (default 1/16″).
  • The decimal form, so 7/16″ and 0.4375″ are visible together.

The selected primary format changes emphasis only — the other form is never hidden. And the stored value behind both is the exact rational result, so switching formats or fraction steps re-displays without recomputation error.

Rounding, honestly

Display rounding rounds to the nearest displayable fraction, with exact ties resolved away from zero. Rounding is display-only: it never mutates the stored exact value, and a later calculation uses the exact value, not the rounded one.

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