Conversion formula

The conversion factor from millimeters to decimeters is 0.01, which means that 1 millimeter is equal to 0.01 decimeters:

1 mm = 0.01 dm

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

1 mm → 0.01 dm

5 mm → L_(dm)

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

L_(dm) = 5 mm × 0.01 dm

L_(dm) = 0.05 dm

The final result is:

5 mm → 0.05 dm

We conclude that 5 millimeters is equivalent to 0.05 decimeters:

5 millimeters = 0.05 decimeters

Alternative conversion

We can also convert by utilizing the inverse value of the conversion factor. In this case 1 decimeter is equal to 20 × 5 millimeters.

Another way is saying that 5 millimeters is equal to 1 ÷ 20 decimeters.

Approximate result

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

5 mm ≅ 0.05 dm

An alternative is also that one decimeter is approximately twenty times five millimeters.

Conversion table

millimeters to decimeters chart

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