Conversion formula

The conversion factor from decimeters to centimeters is 10, which means that 1 decimeter is equal to 10 centimeters:

1 dm = 10 cm

To convert 0.5 decimeters into centimeters we have to multiply 0.5 by the conversion factor in order to get the length amount from decimeters to centimeters. We can also form a simple proportion to calculate the result:

1 dm → 10 cm

0.5 dm → L_(cm)

Solve the above proportion to obtain the length L in centimeters:

L_(cm) = 0.5 dm × 10 cm

L_(cm) = 5 cm

The final result is:

0.5 dm → 5 cm

We conclude that 0.5 decimeters is equivalent to 5 centimeters:

0.5 decimeters = 5 centimeters

Alternative conversion

We can also convert by utilizing the inverse value of the conversion factor. In this case 1 centimeter is equal to 0.2 × 0.5 decimeters.

Another way is saying that 0.5 decimeters is equal to 1 ÷ 0.2 centimeters.

Approximate result

For practical purposes we can round our final result to an approximate numerical value. We can say that zero point five decimeters is approximately five centimeters:

0.5 dm ≅ 5 cm

An alternative is also that one centimeter is approximately zero point two times zero point five decimeters.

Conversion table

decimeters to centimeters chart

For quick reference purposes, below is the conversion table you can use to convert from decimeters to centimeters