This online Time to Decimal Calculator is a handy tool to convert standard clock time (24-hour time format) to the decimal form. Simply enter the time you want to convert in the appropriate fields and the program will calculate for you its decimal representation in hours, minutes, and seconds separately.
How to Convert Time to Decimal
Time is traditionally expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds. We are all used to this representation of time, but this format is not suitable for mathematical operations with time. Calculations usually require the time interval to be expressed in decimal form.
Indeed, as you know, 1 hour consists of 60 minutes, and 1 minute consists of 60 seconds. Therefore, when performing mathematical operations with time, this must be taken into account. For example, adding two time intervals of 45 minutes and 30 minutes, we get as a result 75 minutes, which in the traditional representation of time means 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Therefore, to avoid unnecessary conversions when calculating, it is convenient to express time in the format of a decimal number. In this case, it is first necessary to choose a convenient unit of time measurement (hours, minutes, or seconds). For example, a time of 1 hour 15 minutes can be represented as 1.25 hours, or 75 minutes, or 4500 seconds.
Formulas for calculating time in decimal format have an obvious form and are shown below:
where hrs, min, and sec are hours, minutes, and seconds in standard 24-hour clock time format respectively (in HH:MM:SS time format).
For example, let’s convert the time 02:30:45 first to hours, then to minutes, and finally to seconds:
Decimal hours = 2 + (30 / 60) + (45 / 3600) = 2 + 0.5 + 0.0125 = 2.5125,
Decimal minutes = (2 · 60) + 30 + (45 / 60) = 120 + 30 + 0.75 = 150.75,
Decimal seconds = (2 · 3600) + (30 · 60) + 45 = 7200 + 1800 + 45 = 9045.
Note that our Time to Decimal Calculator rounds the result as follows. Since the original time is given with an accuracy of up to a second, the decimal time in seconds is represented with the same accuracy. Decimal time in minutes is presented with an accuracy of 0.01 minutes, and in hours – with an accuracy of 0.0001 hours.
Practical Applications of Decimal Time Representation
Decimal time representation has a number of practical applications in which it might be useful to convert clock time to decimal numbers:
• Payroll and invoicing. In some cases you might need to convert time values to decimal form in order to calculate pay rates or create invoices. For example, if you are billing a client by the hour you might want to convert the time values to decimal form to make it easier to perform calculations. It is no coincidence that decimal time is also called payroll time.
• Transportation and logistics. Many industries that involve transportation or logistics use decimal time values to represent time in a more precise and standardized way. This can be useful when tracking the time spent on different activities or when planning routes or schedules.
• Project management. If you are working on a project that involves tracking time values it might be helpful to convert clock time to decimal numbers in order to track more accurately the amount of time that has been spent on different tasks or activities.
• Data analysis. When working with time-based data, it can be helpful to convert clock time to decimal numbers in order to perform more advanced analyses or create more accurate charts or graphs.
• Scheduling. When scheduling events or appointments it might be helpful to use decimal time values in order to represent more accurately the duration of an event or to make it easier to schedule multiple events in a consistent way.
• Sports and physical activity. When tracking physical activity or performance, you might want to convert clock time to decimal numbers in order to more accurately represent the duration of an activity or to make it easier to perform calculations related to speed, distance or other performance metrics.
Related calculators
Check out our other date & time calculators such as Decimal to Time Calculator or Add Time Calculator.