On a miter saw, when you're cutting a 90 degree cut, the miter saw reads zero. On a protractor, it reads 90. So it's an unending source of confusion for people. RON HAZELTON: So Mark, show me how it works.
A ruler is used to measure units of length, inches, feet and yards. Standard rulers have inches on one side and centimeters on the other. A typical ruler measures up to 12 inches, and is equivalent to 30.48 centimeters. This is also equivalent to 1 foot. Each inch on a ruler has markings in between that are a fraction of an inch.
Steps. 1. Measure 1 stair tread, which is the horizontal part of the stair on which you step, from one side to the other side, from the wall to the rails. 1  Round your measurement to the nearest foot (meter), and record the width measurement.. Measure across the tread, from where the riser (the vertical part) meets it and down the height of the riser. 1  For this measurement, you are measuring in the opposite direction from your first measurement, across the short distance of the tread.