Hours to Minutes — Conversion & Practice

(Video) Converting Units of Time: Hours to Minutes

by MatholiaChannel

Here is a Youtube Video by MatholiaChannel that covers converting hours to minutes.

$\large{\text{Summary}}$

There are $60\text{ minutes}$ in $1\text{ hour}$. He uses three examples to explain this concept.

Let’s take a look at the second example he used.

How many minutes are there in $3\text{ hours}$ and $35\text{ minutes}$?

Since there are $60\text{ minutes}$ in $1\text{ hour}$, we can convert $3\text{ hours}$ into $\text{minutes}$. $$\begin{align} 3 \text{ hours} \times \frac{60 \text{ minutes}}{1 \text { hour}} &= 3 \cancel{\text{ hours}} \times \frac{60 \text{ minutes}}{1 \cancel{\text { hour}}}\\ &= 3 \times 60 \text{ minutes}\\ &= 180 \text{ minutes} \end{align}$$ There are $180\text{ minutes}$ in $3\text{ hours}$, so there are $180+35= 215\text{ minutes}$ in $3\text{ hours}$ and $35\text{ minutes}$.

Let's take a look at some of the types of problems you might encounter about converting hours to minutes.

$$\begin{align} 5 \text{ hours} \times \frac{60 \text{ minutes}}{1 \text { hour}} &= 5 \cancel{\text{ hours}} \times \frac{60 \text{ minutes}}{1 \cancel{\text { hour}}} \\ &= 5 \times 60 \text{ minutes} \\ &= 300 \text{ minutes} \\ \end{align}$$ $$300 \text{ minutes} + 24 \text{ minutes} = 324 \text{ minutes}$$

$$\begin{align} 540 \text{ minutes} \times \frac{1 \text{ hour}}{60 \text{ minutes}} &= 540\cancel{\text{ minutes}} \times \frac{1 \text{ hour}}{60 \cancel{\text{ minutes}}} \\ &= \frac{540}{60} \text{ hours} \\ &= 9 \text{ hours} \\ \end{align}$$

Converting Minutes to Hours

One day while practicing playing the guitar you realize you have spent $2{,}160 \text{ minutes}$ practicing in the last two weeks. You want to know how many hours you have been practicing, but how do you change time from minutes to hours? We know that there are $60 \text{ minutes}$ in an $\text{hour}$ so we will use that fact to help us find out how many hours you practiced. The unit rates we care about are

$$\frac{1\text{ hour}}{60 {{\text{ minutes}}}}$$ $$\frac{60\text{ minutes}}{1 {{\text{ hour}}}}$$

These are actually equal to each other. We call them proportions.

When converting different units of measurements, in this case minutes to hours, it is important to set up the ratios correctly. A trick to knowing if you set up the ratios correctly is to check if your units cancel each other out.

Treat the ratios exactly how you treat fractions. If you have the same thing in the numerator (top) and the denominator (bottom), they can cancel each other out. When setting up the ratios, begin with what you are being asked to convert. In this case, we will find the amount of hours that are in $2{,}160 \text{ minutes}$. $$2{,}160{\color{Red}{\text{ minutes}}}\times \frac{1\text{ hour}}{60 {\color{Red}{\text{ minutes}}}}=\,???\text{ hours}$$ Notice the units. Because there are ${\color{Red}{\text{ minutes}}}$ in the top and the bottom of the fractions, they cancel each other out. Since the only unit remaining in the left side of the equation is hours, we know we set the problem up correctly and can solve for the number of hours spent practicing.

$$2160\cancel{\color{Red}{\text{ minutes}}}\times\frac{1\text{ hour}}{60\,\cancel{\color{Red}{\text{ minutes}}}}=36\text{ hours}$$

Thus, $2{,}160 \text{ minutes} = 36 \text{ hours}$.

In a similar way, we can also make some other conversions.

-Between minutes and seconds

-Between minutes and days

There are $60 \text{ minutes}$ in $1 \text{ hour}$.

The goal is to correctly convert a minute to an hour and vice versa. There are different ways people come up with to remember when to multiply and when to divide.

Below is a graph illustrating conversions between the two units.

Generally, we divide when converting smaller units to bigger units; we multiply when convert bigger units to smaller units. Test your understanding with the question below:

To find out how many hours are in $315 \text{ minutes}$ you must divide by $60 \text{ minutes}$. $$315 \cancel{\text{ minutes}} \times \frac{1 \text{ hour}}{60 \cancel{\text{ minutes}}} = 5.25 \text{ hours}$$

Now, since we don't want a decimal amount of hours, we have to find how many minutes is $0.25 \text{ hours}$. $$0.25 \cancel{\text{ hours}} \times \frac{60 \text{ minutes}}{1 \cancel{\text{ hour}}} = 15 \text{ minutes}$$

So we have $5\text{ hours}$ and $15 \text{ minutes}$.