There have been huge advances in technology over the past decade, allowing for increasingly powerful assistive software to be created to help people overcome literacy difficulties. Sometimes however, the most effective tool that can be used is not complicated software, but instead something much simpler. If you counted in 1/8-inch increments, you'd find that the second line after 0 equals 1/8 inch, the fourth line 2/8 (1/4) inch, the sixth line 3/8 inch, the eighth line 4/8 (2/4 or 1/2) inch, the 10th line 5/8 inch, the 12th line 6/8 (3/4) inch, and the 14th line 7/8 inch. There are two types of rulers you can use: the inch, or imperial, ruler and the centimeter, or metric, ruler. Each inch is divided into 16 lines, meaning that the space between each line is 1/16 inch long —this is the smallest length you can measure with a ruler. (Note that some rulers only go down to 1/8 inch lines, whereas others go down to 1/32 inch lines.) Example: You’re trying to measure the length of your pointer finger. The ruler comes to the seventh line past 3 inches. This would mean that your finger is 3 7/16 inches long.

You can tell that this is a metric ruler because it’s divided into 30 equally spaced sections and has "cm" written on it(ignore the inches below).Example: Say you decide to measure the length of a corn on the cob. You find that your ruler comes to the second line after the 6-inch mark. This would mean that the corn is 6 1/8 inches long.

It’s pretty obvious that knowing how to read a ruler is important to not just your grades in school but also your day-to-day life.Launched in 2004 to provide a user-friendly alternative for Irlen Syndrome sufferers who resist using the more intrusive large overlays, these reading rulers combine the following features: - While we will be providing pictures you can use to follow our instructions, we recommend getting out your own ruler or measuring tape so you can follow along in real time. Also, be aware that 30 cm does not directly equal 12 inches, even though they are often put on the same ruler! Inches correspond to the imperial system, which is the main measuring system used in the US and a smattering of other countries. Got questions about decimals and fractions?Our expert guides will teach you how to convert decimals to fractions and how to add and subtract fractions.

All of these resources, in addition to the handful of practice questions we gave you above, should be enough to get you reading a ruler in no time at all! Example: Say you’re measuring a piece of cloth and the ruler ends at the fourth line after the 10-inch mark. This would mean that the cloth is 10 1/4 (10.25) inches long. Metric rulers usually have only centimeters and millimeters on them. But did you know there's an even tinier unit called nanometers? Learn how to convert nanometers to metersand other measurements with our in-depth guide. Tinted strips on the edge of the ruler and not as a central “letterbox”, ensuring that context is not lost.

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Example: If you were to measure the length of a sheet of computer paper, the piece of paper would come up to the 11-inch mark on your ruler, indicating that it's exactly 11 inches long.

You’re measuring a pair of glasses, from the end of one lens to the far end of the other lens. Your ruler reaches the seventh line past 12 cm. How long is the pair of glasses?

The inch is the biggest unit on a ruler and is represented by the longest line. Each 1-inch line is labeled with a number indicating what inch it is on the ruler (as the image above shows). Example: You’re measuring the length of a strand of hair. The strand comes to the ninth line after 16 cm on the ruler. This would mean the strand is 16.9 cm long (that’s 16 cm + 9 mm). The second-biggest unit on a ruler is the 1/2 inch, which is represented by the second-longest line. These typically aren't labeled but might be on some rulers (in which case you'd see numbers such as 1 1/2 in, 2 1/2 in, etc.). The Eye Level Reading Ruler is a coloured overlay filter and text highlighter about the size of an eight-inch ruler. It is discreet and professional-looking and can be kept in a book as a bookmark for easy storage. This Dyslexia Friendly resource helps relieve the symptoms of Visual Stress. For example, if you wanted to make something out of construction paper, you'd likely need to use a ruler to measure out how much of the material you would need. Or what if you wanted to frame a photo you have? In this case, you might have to measure the picture to see what kind of frame it would fit in.