Cups to Pints
Convert cups (cup) to pints (pt). Both measure capacity and volume, and the conversion comes up in cooking, chemistry, fuel work.
The Formula
``
pints = cups × 0.5
cups = pints × 2
`
One cup is 0.5 pints, and one pint is 2 cups.
Conversion Table
| Cups | Pints |
|---|---|
| 1 cup | 0.5 pt |
| 2 cup | 1 pt |
| 5 cup | 2.5 pt |
| 10 cup | 5 pt |
| 25 cup | 12.5 pt |
| 50 cup | 25 pt |
| 100 cup | 50 pt |
| 500 cup | 250 pt |
| 1,000 cup | 500 pt |
The Other Direction
| Pints | Cups |
|---|---|
| 1 pt | 2 cup |
| 2 pt | 4 cup |
| 5 pt | 10 cup |
| 10 pt | 20 cup |
| 25 pt | 50 cup |
| 50 pt | 100 cup |
| 100 pt | 200 cup |
| 500 pt | 1,000 cup |
| 1,000 pt | 2,000 cup |
What Each Unit Is
Cups (cup) — the US customary cup: exactly 240 millilitres in nutrition labelling, 236.588 mL legally. An American cooking measure standardised by Fannie Farmer in the 1890s.
Pints (pt) — the US liquid pint: half a quart, or 473.176 millilitres. From the Old French pinte; the US kept the pre-1824 English measure.
A Sense of Scale
A coffee mug holds about 1.5 cups- US recipes measure everything in cups
- A US pint of beer is 473 mL
- A UK pint is 568 mL
- Blood donation takes about a pint
Precision
The factor 0.5 is rounded. For engineering work carry more digits than the table above, and round only at the end — rounding at each step compounds.
Watch Out For
- A US cup is 237 mL, a metric cup 250 mL and a Japanese cup 200 mL. Baking by volume is why the same recipe fails in another country.
- A UK pint is 20% larger than a US pint — 568 mL against 473 mL.
In Code
`javascript
const cupToPint = (value) => value * 0.5;
``
Where This Conversion Comes Up
- Cooking
- Chemistry
- Fuel
- Beverages
- Medicine
How Many Decimals Do You Need?
Rounding the factor costs accuracy, and how much depends on the factor. Converting 137 cup with the factor truncated at each decimal place:
| Decimals kept | Factor | 137 cup becomes | Error |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 137 | 100.0000% |
| 1 | 0.5 | 68.5 | — |
| 2 | 0.5 | 68.5 | — |
| 3 | 0.5 | 68.5 | — |
| 4 | 0.5 | 68.5 | — |
The right number of significant figures is set by your input, not by the converter. If you measured cups to three significant figures, the answer in pints is only good to three — writing more digits claims precision the measurement never had.