Years are commonly split into quarters, especially in business and education settings, with each quarter being three months or approximately 90 days. A common year has 365 days and a leap year (occurring mostly every 4 years) has 366 days. February has 28 days in a common year and an extra day in a leap year the 29 th day of February is called the leap day.Ī year always has 12 months. All months have either 30 or 31 days except for February. It is also common for people to talk about a work week, usually 5 days (Monday - Friday) and weekends (Saturday and Sunday).ĭifferent months have different numbers of days. It is common to talk about 'half an hour' (30 minutes) and 'quarter of an hour' (15 minutes). These 'leap seconds' are used to keep our clocks aligned to the earth's rotation around the sun. once every 18 months) a minute can have 61 seconds. Seconds are also commonly abbreviated to sec.Ī minute nearly always has sixty seconds. The symbol 's' is used to denote a second. The second is the International System of Units (SI) measurement for time. The basic units of time, which allow you to do calculations involving time, are: Unit However, with a bit of application, you too can learn how to calculate with time, and gain confidence in manipulating hours, minutes and seconds. ![]() Additionally, the decimal format is more convenient to present and analyze time data in tables, charts and graphs.Even otherwise highly numerate people have been known to throw up their hands in horror at the thought of adding together times.Ī system like time, which is not decimal, can be counter-intuitive and requires concentration. Representing time in decimal format simplifies the process of calculating the difference between values and eliminates the need to convert them into hours and minutes. For example, calculating the duration between two specific points in time in hours or minutes. Some scholars argue that it was used by ancient cultures in different parts of the world, while others suggest that it was developed more recently.Ī decimal number of hours allows time to be expressed as a fraction of a day, enabling mathematical comparison, data analysis and calculations with other numerical values. The reason for its creation is likely due to the fact that humans have ten fingers which made it more convenient for them to work with a number system based on 10. The decimal system is a number system that utilizes 10 digits, from 0 to 9. The invention of pendulum clocks in the 17th century, followed by the development of spring-driven and quartz clocks, greatly improved the precision of measuring time units. The ancient Romans advanced this concept by basing it on the position of the sun, allocating 12 hours for daylight and 12 hours for nighttime.Īs clock-making technology advanced during the Middle Ages, more precise clocks were created, resulting in more accurate timekeeping. Later, these 12 hours were divided into smaller units of time. In its earliest forms, the day was divided into 12 hours which were used to measure both daytime and nighttime. Throughout history, this system has been refined and developed further. The system of dividing a day into 24 equal hours, each hour into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds, has its roots in ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece. For example, to convert hours to minutes, the number of hours is multiplied by 60. ![]() To convert a large unit of time into a smaller unit, the conversion factor must be multiplied. The number of hours must be divided by 24 as there are 24 hours in a day.ġ2 hours = 12/24 = 0.5 days Converting a large unit of time into a smaller unit When converting hours to days, the process is different. The result is a decimal number and can be easily converted to the 24-hour format. ![]() Similarly, to convert minutes to hours, the number of minutes is divided by 60. To convert from seconds to minutes, the number of seconds is divided by 60. In general, when converting from a smaller unit of time to a larger one, division is necessary. Number of minutes/60 = Conversion of hours and minutes to decimal Converting a small unit of time into a larger unit The time zone doesn't matter because the decimal system always represents a duration and not a specific point in time. However, it is important to note that decimal time is not widely used in everyday life and is less common compared to the traditional 12-hour or 24-hour clock formats.Ĭonverting hours and minutes into a decimal number is not complicated and almost no calculator is needed. Minutesĭecimal time is primarily used in fields that require precise timekeeping, such as science, technology, mathematics and engineering. ![]() The following table lists the minutes in the time format with the respective decimal values as a conversion chart.
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