Pints to Cups
Convert pints (pt) to cups (cup). Both measure capacity and volume, and the conversion comes up in cooking, chemistry, fuel work.
The Formula
``
cups = pints × 2
pints = cups × 0.5
`
One pint is 2 cups, and one cup is 0.5 pints.
Conversion Table
| 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 |
The Other Direction
| 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 |
What Each Unit Is
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.
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.
A Sense of Scale
A US pint of beer is 473 mL- A UK pint is 568 mL
- Blood donation takes about a pint
- A coffee mug holds about 1.5 cups
- US recipes measure everything in cups
Precision
The factor 2 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 UK pint is 20% larger than a US pint — 568 mL against 473 mL.
- 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.
In Code
`javascript
const pintToCup = (value) => value * 2;
``
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 pt with the factor truncated at each decimal place:
| Decimals kept | Factor | 137 pt becomes | Error |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2 | 274 | — |
| 1 | 2 | 274 | — |
| 2 | 2 | 274 | — |
| 3 | 2 | 274 | — |
| 4 | 2 | 274 | — |
The right number of significant figures is set by your input, not by the converter. If you measured pints to three significant figures, the answer in cups is only good to three — writing more digits claims precision the measurement never had.