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Math resources Measurement and data Units of measurement

Converting U of T

Converting units of time

Here you will learn about converting units of time, including converting between seconds, minutes and hours.

Students will first learn about converting units of time as part of measurement and data in the $5$ th grade, and expand on their understanding in ratios and proportional relationships in $6$ th grade.

What is converting units of time?

Converting units of time is converting between seconds, minutes and hours. To convert units of measurement, you need to first understand the relationships between the units and use the correct time conversion factor.

The most basic units of time are seconds, minutes, hours and days.

In the United States, the customary units of time is the system of measurements used. These measurements are used on a daily basis. Look at the conversion chart below:

$\hspace{2.2cm}$ Customary Units of Time


$1$ year	$365$ days* / $12$ months / $52$ weeks
$1$ week	$7$ days
$1$ day	$24$ hours
$1$ hour	$60$ minutes
$1$ minute	$60$ seconds

*Note: In a leap year, an extra day is added to the calendar and the number of days in a year are $366.$ *

Converting units of time using conversion tables

A conversion table is a table of equivalents that is used to change units of measure into other units. These are sometimes referred to as input-output tables.

You can use a conversion table to find the number of seconds in a certain number of minutes. See the table below:

Minute	Seconds
$1$	$60$
$2$	$120$
$3$	$180$

For every $60$ seconds, another minute is added. If you wanted to find the number of seconds in $4$ minutes, you could add another row to the conversion table and add $60$ seconds to $180.$

$180+60=240$

Minute	Seconds
$1$	$60$
$2$	$120$
$3$	$180$
$4$	$\color{#189AB4}{240}$

Converting units of time using conversion factors

A conversion factor is the number used to change one set of units to another by either multiplying or dividing. Conversion factors are best used when dealing with a larger number of units.

When converting a larger number of seconds to minutes, it may be easier to use the conversion factor and divide the number of seconds by $60.$

For example,

Convert $1,920$ seconds to minutes.

$1,920 \div 60=32 \text { minutes }$

What is converting units of time?

Common Core State Standards

How does this relate to $5$ th grade math and 6th grade math?

Grade 5: Measurement and Data (5.MD.A.1)
Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (for example, convert $5 \, cm$ to $0.05 \, m$ ), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Grade 6: Ratios and Proportional Relationships (6.RP.A.3d)
Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities.

How to convert units of time using conversion table

In order to convert units of time, you need to:

Check the units involved.
Draw conversion table and label with correct units.
Add on the number of units until you reach the final answer.
Write your final answer.

FREE] Converting Units of Time Worksheet (Grade 4 to 8)

Use this worksheet to check your grade 4 to 8 students’ understanding of converting units of time. 15 questions with answers to identify areas of strength and support!

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FREE] Converting Units of Time Worksheet (Grade 4 to 8)

Use this worksheet to check your grade 4 to 8 students’ understanding of converting units of time. 15 questions with answers to identify areas of strength and support!

DOWNLOAD FREE

Converting units of time examples

Example 1: convert days to hours using conversion table

How many hours are there in $4$ days?

Check the units involved.

$1 \text { day }=24 \text { hours }$

2Draw conversion table and label with correct units.

3Add on the number of units until you reach the final answer.

$2 \text { days }=24+24=48 \text { hours }$

$3 \text { days }=48+24=72 \text { hours }$

$4 \text { days }=72+24=96 \text { hours }$

4Write your final answer.

There are $96$ hours in $4$ days.

Example 2: convert hours to minutes using conversion table

How many minutes are there in $6$ hours?

Check the units involved.

$1 \text { hour }=60 \text { minutes. }$

Draw conversion table and label with correct units.

Add on the number of units until you reach the final answer.

$2 \text { hours }=60+60=120 \text { minutes }$

$3 \text { hours }=120+60=180 \text { minutes }$

$4 \text { hours }=180+60=240 \text { minutes }$

$5 \text { hours }=240+60=300 \text { minutes }$

$6 \text { hours }=300+60=360 \text { minutes }$

Write your final answer.

There are $360$ minutes in $6$ hours.

How to convert units of time using conversion factor

In order to convert units of time, you need to:

Check the units involved.
Multiply or divide by the conversion factor.
Write the answer.

Example 3: convert hours to hours and minutes

Find the number of hours and minutes in $1.4$ hours.

Check the units involved.

$1 \text { hour }=60 \text { minutes. }$

So the conversion factor is $60.$

Multiply or divide by the conversion factor.

Based on the decimal, we already know that there is $1$ hour. Concentrate on the decimal part of the original number, $0.4.$ This part represents the minutes.

Multiply $0.4$ by $60$ to convert to minutes:

$0.4 \times 60=24$

Write the answer.

$1.4$ hours is equal to $1$ hour $24$ minutes.

Example 4: convert minutes to hours

Convert $324$ minutes to hours.

Check the units involved.

$1 \text { hour }=60 \text { minutes. }$

So the conversion factor is $60.$

Multiply or divide by the conversion factor.

You are going from a smaller unit (minutes) to a larger unit (hours), so you will divide the number of minutes by $60.$

$324 \div 60=5.4$

Write the answer.

$324$ minutes is $5.4$ hours.

Example 5: convert minutes to seconds

Convert $520$ minutes to seconds.

Check the units involved.

$1 \text { minute } = 60 \text { seconds. }$

So the conversion factor is $60.$

Multiply or divide by the conversion factor.

You are going from a larger unit (minutes) to a smaller unit (seconds), so you will multiply the number of minutes by $60.$

$520 \times 60=31,200$

Write the answer.

$520$ minutes is equal to $31,200$ seconds.

Example 6: converting units of time word problem

How many seconds are equal to $3$ hours?

Check the units involved.

$1 \text { hour } = 60 \text { minutes. }$

$1 \text { minute } = 60 \text { seconds. }$

You will use the conversion factor of $60$ two times.

Multiply or divide by the conversion factor.

First, you will need to find the number of minutes in $3$ hours.

$3 \times 60=180 \text { minutes }$

You can now find the number of seconds in $180$ minutes.

$180 \times 60=10,800 \text { seconds }$

Write the answer.

There are $10,800$ seconds in $3$ hours.

Teaching tips for converting units of time

Students should be familiar with, or have access to, the important relationships within the different units of time. These can be displayed in the classroom or be included in a student’s interactive math notebook for easy reference.

Time worksheets should only be used for students who are showing difficulty with telling time.

Easy mistakes to make

Base $\bf{10}$ and base $\bf{60}$
A common misconception is to confuse the units used in the metric system with the units used for time.

The metric system uses base $10.$
Each successive unit is $10$ times larger than the previous one.
For example,

Time (for conversions between seconds, minutes and hours) uses base $60.$
For example,

Practice converting units of time questions

$48$ hours

$24$ hours

$72$ hours

$63$ hours

First check the units involved in the problem.

$1 \text { day } = 24 \text { hours. }$

Draw a conversion chart and label with correct units.

Converting Units of Time image 10 US

Add on the number of units until you reach the final answer.

Converting Units of Time image 11 US

$24+24=48 \text { hours }$

There are $48$ hours in $2$ days.

$31$ minutes

$190$ minutes

$180$ minutes

$310$ minutes

First check the units involved in the problem.

$1 \text { hour } = 60 \text { minutes. }$

Draw a conversion chart and label with correct units.

Converting Units of Time image 12 US

Add on the number of units until you reach the final answer.

Converting Units of Time image 13 US

$60+60+60=180 \text { minutes }$

There are $180$ minutes in $3$ hours.

$4$ hours and $35$ minutes

$4$ hours and $25$ minutes

$4$ hours and $21$ minutes

$4$ hours and $28$ minutes

Concentrate on the decimal fraction part, which represents the minutes.

$0.35\times 60=21$

So $4.35$ hours is $4$ hours and $21$ minutes.

$0.75$ hours

$1.5$ hours minutes

$7.5$ hours

$1.25$ hours

There are $60$ minutes in an hour, so our conversion factor is $60.$

Because you are going from a smaller unit to a larger unit, you will divide the number of minutes by $60.$

$75\div 60=1.25$

$75$ minutes is the same as $1.25$ hours.

$13$ hours and $5$ minutes

$1$ hours and $35$ minutes

$2$ hours and $25$ minutes

$2$ hours and $15$ minutes

There are $60$ minutes in an hour, so our conversion factor is $60.$

Because you are going from a smaller unit to a larger unit, you will divide the number of minutes by $60.$

$135\div 60=2.25$

There are $2$ hours.

You will then focus on the decimal to find the number of minutes.

$0.25\times 60=15$

There are $15$ minutes.

$135$ minutes is the same as $2$ hours and $15$ minutes.

$336$ hours

$48$ hours

$302$ hours

$225$ hours

First, you will need to find the number of days in $2$ weeks. There are $7$ days in a week, so $7 \times 2=14 \text { days. }$

There are $24$ hours in $1$ day, so multiply $14$ by $24.$

$14 \times 24=336 \text { hours }$

There are $336$ hours in $2$ weeks.

Converting units of time FAQs

What is the smallest unit of time?

The second is the most commonly used and recognized smallest unit of time. However, in fields such as computing and electronics, the millisecond $(\cfrac{1}{1,000 \, th}$ of a second $)$ and microsecond $(\cfrac{1}{1,000,000 \, th}$ of a second $)$ are also used.

How do you read an analog clock?

First, look at the hour hand (the shortest hand) to determine the hour. Then look at the minute hand (the longest hand) to determine the minutes. The minute hand points to the number of minutes past the hour.

How many days are in a month?

The number of days in a month varies depending on the month and the year. The following months have $31$ days: January, March, May, July, August, October and December. The following months have $30$ days: April, June, September, and November. The month of February has $28$ days, except during a leap year, where it has $29$ days.

The next lessons are

Represent and interpret data
Ratio
Proportion
Converting fractions, decimals, and percentages

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