Convert Minutes to Hours
Not sure how to change a time in minutes to a time in hours? Not to worry! It's easy to make this conversion task in just a few simple steps. As a general rule, dividing your number of minutes by 60 will give you the same time in hours. This is because there are exactly 60 minutes in an hour.
Contents
Steps
Sample Minutes to Hours Converter
Doc:Minute to Hours Converter
Converting Minutes to Hours
- Start with your number of minutes. You can do this a few different ways. For example, if you're working on paper, you might write down the number of minutes and label it with the word "minutes." If you're using a calculator, just type in the number.
- As an example, let's say that we want to find out how many hours a 150 minute movie will be. In this case, we'll start by writing down 150 minutes. In the next few steps, we'll solve!
- Multiply by "1 hour/60 minutes." Next, write (or type) a multiplication sign (×), then the fraction 1 hour/60 minutes. This fraction shows how many minutes are in an hour (60). When we multiply, we'll end up with the correct units, too (since the two "minutes") cancel out.
- This is the same as dividing by 60/1, or 60. If you need help dividing and multiplying fractions, see WikiHow's help article on this topic.
- Solve. Now you just need to do the math. The answer you get will be the number of hours you're looking for.
- In our example, 150 minutes × 1 hour/60 minutes = 2.5 hours, or 2 1/2 hours. This is the same as 150 divided by 60 or 150/60.
- Multiply by 60 to get back to minutes. Taking an hours measurement and multiplying it by 60 will get you minutes again. Technically, you're multiplying by 60 minutes/1 hour so that the two "hours" cancel properly.
- In our example, multiplying 2.5 hours × 60 minutes/1 hour = 150 minutes — exactly what we started with.
- If your measurement is in hours and minutes, just deal with the minutes. Sometimes, time measurements are given like this: x hours y minutes. In this case, you can just convert the "y minutes" portion to hours, then add it to the "x hours" portion. This gives you the total time in (just) hours.
- For example, let's say that we need to convert 3 hours and 9 minutes to just hours. To do this, all we need to do is figure out how many hours 9 minutes is, then add it to 3 hours. In other words, 9 minutes × 1 hour/60 minutes = 0.15 hours + 3 hours = 3.15 hours.
Converting to Hours and Minutes
- Convert your minutes to hours as normal. Up until now, we've only discussed how to get answers written in hours. However, since time is often written as hours and minutes, it's nice to know how to do this too. Luckily, this is easy. To start, just convert your minute measurement into hours like you learned in the section above.
- Let's follow along with an example problem. If we want to convert 260 minutes to hours, we would multiply 260 minutes × 1 hour/60 minutes = 4.33 hours or 4 1/3 hours.
- Multiply the decimal or fraction by 60. Unless your minutes converted perfectly to hours, you'll have an answer with a decimal or fraction in it. You want to multiply this part by 60. Leave the whole number alone — we're only dealing with the "extra" decimal or fraction part. Label your answer as "minutes".
- In our example, we would multiply just the ".33" by 60. 0.33 × 60 = 20 minutes.
- If we use a fraction instead of 0.33, we get the same answer. 1/3 × 60 = 20 minutes.
- Write your answer as hours and minutes. The answer you just got is the "minutes" part of your final answer. You already know the "hours" part — it's the whole number you got when you first converted. Write your answer like this: x hours, y minutes.
- In our example, our first answer was 4.33 hours. We just found out that the ".33" part is equal to 20 minutes, so we would write our answer as 4 hours 20 minutes.
Tips
- Looking for a quicker, more convenient way to make this conversion? Online calculators like this one let you type in a number of minutes and get an answer in hours in a few seconds!
- If you're dealing with minutes and seconds, things can get a little trickier. First, divide the number of seconds by 60 to get it into minutes form. Add this to your number of minutes, then divide again by 60 to get hours.
Related Articles
- Convert Inches to Centimeters
- Convert Human Height in Centimeters to Feet
- Convert Centimeters to Inches
- Convert Grams to Curies
- Convert Kelvin to Fahrenheit or Celsius
- Convert Minutes to Seconds
