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The chart above simply converts minutes from base 60 to base 10. 75 hoursīut what about non-intuitive times? How do I convert 7:56 (seven hours and 56 minutes) to decimal time? Using the Time Conversion Chart below, we discover that 7:56 = 7.93 hours. Some time conversions (like the one above) are intuitive. 5 decimal time before I multiply by my hourly wage. For example, how much have I earned if I make $10 per hour and work 7:30? I must convert 30 minutes to. When thought of in this way, it is not hard to understand that 7:30 (hours and minutes) = 7.5 decimal hours.Įxpressing time in decimal format is essential for payroll because wages must be calculated using standard decimal numbers. So in decimal format this is expressed as 7.5 hours (7 and a half hours). Using our 7:30 example above, we intuitively know that 30 minutes is 'half an hour.' In decimal format one-half is expressed as '.5'.
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When we use decimal numbers each place in a number ranges from 0-9. The decimal hours format uses 'base 10' to represent time as common decimal numbers.
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7:30 is read as 'seven hours and 30 minutes.' When we use this common expression of time we understand that it means seven periods of 60 minutes (7 hours) and one period of 30 minutes. So whenever we see time expressed with a colon (:) we know that we are seeing time in the hours and minutes format. Instead, we increase the hours by one and reset the minutes to zero and write 4:00. We express hours (60 minutes) and portions of an hour (minutes) with the format HH:MM. So when time is increased by one minute at 3:59, we don't write 3:60. By this we mean that time is expressed in 60 one minute units. The hours & minutes format uses 'base 60' to represent time. Note: Wondering if your totals are accurate? Read our brief article about the accuracy of totals > Are you interested in how time is properly converted from hours and minutes to decimal format for payroll? We'll review and compare these two common formats for displaying and expressing time.
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