
Shorter rulers are convenient for keeping in a pocket. 12 in or 30 cm in length is useful for a ruler to be kept on a desk to help in drawing. Metal is used for more durable rulers for use in the workshop sometimes a metal edge is embedded into a wooden desk ruler to preserve the edge when used for straight-line cutting. Plastics have also been used since they were invented they can be molded with length markings instead of being scribed. Rulers have long been made from different materials and in multiple sizes.
#Free ruler application software#
Since much technical work is now done on computer, many software programs implement virtual rulers to help the user estimate virtual distances.īronze ruler. Rulers are ubiquitous in the engineering and construction industries, often in the form of a tape measure, and are used for making and reading technical drawings. At the high school level rulers are often used as straightedges for geometric constructions in Euclidean geometry. Children learn basic use of rulers at the elementary school level and are often part of a student's school supplies. Their ability to quickly and easily measure lengths makes them important to textile industry and to retailers where amounts of string, fabric, and paper goods can be cut to size.

They are crucially important tools in the design and construction of buildings. They are commonly made from metal, wood, fabric, paper, and plastic. Rulers have been used since ancient times.

Specialty rulers exist that have flexible edges that retain a chosen shape and these find use in sewing, arts, and crafts. Some rulers such as cloth or paper tape measures are non-rigid. Commonly the instrument is rigid and the edge itself is a straightedge ("ruled straightedge") which additionally allows one to draw straight lines. A ruler in combination with a letter scaleĪ ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is an instrument used to make distance measurements whereby a user estimates a distance by reading from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device.
