this video is for beginners who want to learn the basics of reading and using a tape measure let's start by zooming in on the first part of the tape measure the distance between the zero line and the one line is one inch beginning from the zero mark we need to count 16 lines to reach the one inch mark the distance between the zero mark and the first line is 1 16 of an inch the distance between the zero mark and the second line is 2 16 of an inch and so on until we reach 16 16 which is just another way of saying one inch this mark represents 2 16 of an inch but we can write this fraction another way 2 divided by 2 equals 1 and 16 divided by two equals eight this means two sixteenths of an inch is equal to one eighth of an inch we can repeat this step to find the rest of the eighth inch markings four sixteenths is two eighths six-sixteenths is three-eighths and so on some of these fractions can be simplified even more let's start with two-eighths two divided by two equals one and 8 divided by 2 equals 4 so 2 8 is really 1 4 of an inch but most people just say it's one quarter of an inch the same is true for this mark six eighths can be simplified to three-fourths instead of three-fourths of an inch you can also say it's three-quarters of an inch four-eighths can be simplified to two-fourths two-fourths can be simplified to one-half and eight-eighths equals one inch there's no way to simplify the fractions further so we're done labeling each of the markings if you look closely at the length of each mark you'll see some helpful patterns notice that the 16th inch marks are the shortest the eighth inch marks are slightly longer followed by the quarter inch marks the half inch mark is the second longest and the longest marks are used for every inch on the tape eventually you'll want to memorize these marks but here are some tips for reading the tape you can use the different marking lengths to quickly find a measurement let's say we want to know this measurement we know that the shortest marks are used for sixteenths count each of these marks using odd numbers 1 3 5 7 9 9 16. the same trick works for the eighth inch marks as well as the quarter inch marks another way to think about it is to visualize the spacing between the marks every two marks is an eighth inch every four marks is a quarter inch and every eight marks is half an inch if we wanted to find 5 8 for example we would count each 1 8 block like this since there are 5 1 8 inch blocks this mark is 5 8. this is helpful for adding and subtracting measurements if we needed to add 3 8 to 1 8 for example we could add three 1 8 inch blocks to get one half as long as the fractions have the same denominator you can also just add them together one-eighth plus three-eighths is four-eighths which is really one-half if the fractions don't have the same denominator you'll have to convert one of them first in this case we would multiply one-eighth by two over two two divided by two equals one so we're not changing the value of one eighth we're just changing the way it looks one times two equals two and eight times two equals sixteen so another way of writing one-eighth is two-sixteenths the denominators are now the same so we can add the two fractions together three-sixteenths plus two-sixteenths is 5 16. let's look at a harder example what's 3 and 5 16 of an inch minus 2 and 1 8 of an inch start by converting one of the fractions another way of writing two and one-eighth is two and two-sixteenths now we can break the problem into two parts three minus two and five-sixteenths minus two-sixteenths three minus two is one and five sixteenths minus two sixteenths is three sixteenths the last step is to add these parts together the answer is one and three sixteenths of an inch here's a tip for dividing a measurement in half to quickly get half of a measurement multiply the denominator by two to find half of one quarter for example multiply four by two this gives us one-eighth this trick works because what you're really doing is multiplying the whole fraction by one-half because you're always multiplying the numerator by one it'll always be the same so you can just skip that step and multiply the denominator by 2. let's see another example to find half of 5 8 multiply 8 by 2. this gives us 5 16. this also works for dividing a measurement like 9 16 in half but there's a catch some tape measures have an extra set of markings to divide an inch into 32 equal marks here we can see that half of 9 16 is nine thirty seconds we don't use these tape measures for cabinet work so in a standard tape measure 9 30 seconds would sit here since there are no marks for 30 seconds we use the terms light and heavy to describe measurements like this one so instead of saying 9 30 seconds we would say this measurement is a heavy quarter inch we could also say it's a light 5 16. the same shortcut we used earlier can be used in reverse to double the measurement to double one eighth for example divide the denominator by two this gives us one quarter doubling seven sixteenths gives us seven eighths let's go over the basics of using a tape measure you may have noticed that the hook on the end of your tape measure is a little loose a small amount of hook movement is normal and it's meant to compensate for the thickness of the hook when taking a measurement this ensures that whether you measure against the wall or surface or you measure something by hooking onto the edge you'll get the same measurement when measuring against a surface gently push the tape towards it when measuring from an edge gently pull the tape away from the edge before reading the measurement for extra precision you can hold the tape and measure from the one inch mark this is known as burning an inch when taking a measurement this way remember to subtract one inch afterward the hook should be square with the tape avoid dropping your tape measure because this might damage the hook or other parts of the tool if your tape measure has a bent hook or a damaged blade throw it out and buy a new one a new tape measure will always be cheaper than cutting something incorrectly in the shop when taking a measurement keep the tape parallel to the length you're trying to measure holding the tape at an angle like this will give you an inaccurate measurement when taking a measurement the mark lining up with the edge will change as you tilt your head this is known as the parallax effect if you try to read the tape from an angle you'll get an inaccurate measurement always read the tape with your eye directly over the mark here's a tip for measuring the length between two surfaces if you just need a rough measurement you can bend the tape like this for more accurate measurement start by measuring from one side and make a mark on the whole number in this case 10 inches then measure from the other side to your pencil mark finally add your measurements together we've included flash cards with this video to help you memorize the marks as you continue using your tape measure learning the marks will eventually become second nature so you