Conversion formula

The conversion factor from decimeters to meters is 0.1, which means that 1 decimeter is equal to 0.1 meters:

1 dm = 0.1 m

To convert 5 decimeters into meters we have to multiply 5 by the conversion factor in order to get the length amount from decimeters to meters. We can also form a simple proportion to calculate the result:

1 dm → 0.1 m

5 dm → L_(m)

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

L_(m) = 5 dm × 0.1 m

L_(m) = 0.5 m

The final result is:

5 dm → 0.5 m

We conclude that 5 decimeters is equivalent to 0.5 meters:

5 decimeters = 0.5 meters

Alternative conversion

We can also convert by utilizing the inverse value of the conversion factor. In this case 1 meter is equal to 2 × 5 decimeters.

Another way is saying that 5 decimeters is equal to 1 ÷ 2 meters.

Approximate result

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

5 dm ≅ 0.5 m

An alternative is also that one meter is approximately two times five decimeters.

Conversion table

decimeters to meters chart

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