Measuring Time: Hours, Minutes, and Seconds

Hello,

In our previous posts we have learned about fractions, decimals, properties of addition, place values, etc.  We are going to move on to measuring time, and we will start with hours, minutes, and seconds.  In this particular post we will learn how to convert minutes to hours and hours to minutes.  We will also learn how to convert from hours to minutes to seconds and vice versa. 

Basically, you need to know that there are 60 minutes in 1 hour.  So, for example, to convert 45 minutes into hours, you would simply divide 45 into 60.  45/60 = 0.75 when you use long division or your calculator. So, 45 minutes = 0.75 hours.  Let's try an example with converting hours back to minutes.  5 hours is equal to how many minutes?  If you multiply 5 x 60, you will find the amount of minutes.  So 5 hours = 300 minutes.  75 hours is equal how many minutes? 75 x 60 = 4,500 minutes.

As a side note, if we were converting from seconds to minutes to hours, we would not only need to know that there are 60 minutes in 1 hour, but that there are 60 seconds in 1 minute.  For example, 35 hours is equal to how many minutes?  35 x 60 = 2100 minutes.  2100 minutes is equal to how many seconds?  2100 x 60 seconds.  In other words, 35 hours = 2100 minutes = 126,000 seconds.  If we were to reverse our problem and convert 126,000 seconds to minutes and hours, we would proceed with the following computations: 126,000/60 = 2,100 minutes and 2,100/60 = 35 hours.   

Hint: Converting from minutes to hours: divide by 60; converting from hours to minutes: multiply by 60; converting from hours to seconds, multiply by 3600; converting from seconds to minutes, divide by 60; converting from seconds to hours, divide by 3600. 

I know that this seems confusing, but it will be much easier as we practice, I promise.

Let's try these worksheets below; Note that the answers are with the worksheet, but try to do the problems yourself before looking at the answers. 

1.) Worksheet: converting from hours to minutes
2.) Worksheet: converting from minutes to hours
3.) Worksheet: converting from minutes to seconds
4.) Worksheet: converting from seconds to minutes
5.) Worksheet: converting hours, minutes, and seconds; more advanced problems ; Answers to worksheet 5

Look at this website for more practice with conversions, specifically minutes to hours, and hours to minutes :  Go to measurement--time, and click on the fist couple links: More practice with time conversions