Convert Time to Decimal

When converting time into a decimal, follow the steps below.

Step 1) The hour becomes the whole number part of the decimal.

Step 2) Take the number of minutes and multiply them by 60, then add on the number of seconds

Step 3) Divide the number from Step 2 by 3600. This is the decimal part.

Step 4) All you need to do now is to put your whole number part (the hour) with the decimal part from Step 3.

You should now have converted your time into a decimal!

Examples

Example 1: Convert 3:35 (3 hours 35 minutes) into a decimal.

Step 1) The hour is 3, so the whole number part is 3.

Step 2) The minutes are 35, so we multiply them by 60 - this gives us 2100.
There are no seconds to add on.

Step 3) We now divide this number by 3600 which gives us 0.5833333.

Step 4) Our final answer then is 3.5833333

Example 2: Convert 16:28:45 (16 hours, 28 minutes and 45 seconds) into a decimal.

Step 1) The hour is 16, so the whole number part is 16.

Step 2) The minutes are 28, so we multiply this by 60 and add on the seconds.
This gives us (28 x 60) + 45 = 1725

Step 3) We divide the answer from Step 2 by 3600.
1725 ÷ 3600 = 0.4791666

Step 4) Our final answer is 16.4791666

When converting decimal time into a time, follow the steps below.

Step 1) The number before the decimal point become the number of hours.

Step 2) Take the decimal part of the number after the point and multiply it by 3600.

Step 3) Divide the answer from Step 2 by 60 and round it down - this gives you the number of minutes past.

Step 4) If you take the number from Step 2 and subtract the number of minutes multipled by 60, then you should be left with the number of seconds. You may need to round this to the nearest whole number!

You should now have converted your decimal into a time!

Examples

Example 1: Convert 8.75 hours into a time.

Step 1) The number of hours is the part before the decimal point which is 8.

Step 2) We multiply the decimal part after the point by 3600.
So 0.75 x 3600 = 2700

Step 3) We divide the answer from Step 2 by 60 and round it down.
2700 ÷ 60 = 45 (this is already a whole number and does not need rounding!)
So we have 45 minutes past.

Step 4) We subtract 45 x 60 from 2700 to give us the number of seconds (in this case there are zero seconds!)

So the final time is 8:45:00 (or just 8:45).

Example 2: Convert 14.681 hours into a time.

Step 1) The number of hours is the whole number part which is 14.

Step 2) We multiply the decimal part by 3600.
So 0.681 x 3600 = 2451.6

Step 3) We divide the answer from Step 2 by 60 and round it down.
2451.6 ÷ 60 = 40.86.
Rounding this down gives us 40 minutes.

Step 4) We subtract 40x60 from 2451.6. This gives us:
2451.6 - (40x60) = 51.6.
So we have 51.6 seconds. Rounded to the nearest second is 52 seconds.

Our final answer is 14:40:52 (14 hours, 40 minutes and 52 seconds)