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.

Decimal time converter chart