3.280833333 feet in a meter. Permanently pounded into my memory during years of surveying. Before the days of permanent memory in calculators, we would shoot a distance with our laser with the switch turned to "meters". Then we would change it to "feet" and shoot it again. In the meantime, the notekeeper would multiply the meter reading by the factor (3.280833333) and compare the result with what the "feet" readout from the laser was saying. This was mostly to double-check the reading & guard against writing down (or reading) a wrong numeral(s). If the "feet" measurment agreed with the "converted" metric measurement, it meant we read & wrote it down right.
Lots of double- & triple-checking in surveying. Much better to find an error right away. Having to go figure out why the traverse didn't "close" after you thought you were already done could be a nightmare - sometimes requiring us to do the whole thing over again. Much easier to just measure everything twice (or 3 times) the first time around.
