Learning how to convert decimals to minutes and minutes to decimals in Google Sheets is not only important but also incredibly useful. This skill can come in handy when preparing payrolls, calculating rental bills, or working on other time-related tasks. Whether you are a business owner, an HR professional, or simply someone who relies on Google Sheets for various calculations, understanding how to convert between decimals and minutes is a valuable skill to have.
Decimals to Minutes and Minutes to Decimals in Google Sheets
You might be wondering: should we split the number or time to convert decimals to minutes or minutes to decimals in Google Sheets? The answer is no! There’s no need to complicate things. You can take decimal numbers or time values as a whole and apply simple formulas to perform the conversion.
For instance, let’s say you need to calculate an employee’s wages based on their total work hours in the format HH:MM. If their hourly rate is $35.50, you can’t simply multiply 10.30 by $35.50 to get the correct answer. Instead, you should convert the 30 minutes to decimal form, resulting in 10.50, and then multiply it by $35.50. This way, you accurately calculate their wages.
On the flip side, you might also need to convert decimals back to minutes. It is possible to do both conversions in Google Sheets, and in this article, we will explore the best formulas to achieve that.
1. How to Convert Minutes in Time Format to Decimals in Google Sheets
Suppose you have the total hours worked by an employee in time format (e.g., 10:30) in cell A1. You want to convert the minutes (30 in this case) to decimal.
To convert time to decimal in Google Sheets, you can use the following formula:
=A1*24After applying the formula, go to the Format menu, select Number, and choose the Number option. This will ensure that the decimal value is displayed correctly.
For instance, if cell A1 contains 00:30 (30 minutes), the formula will output 0.5. By using this approach, you can convert time values in various formats (hours, minutes, or both) to decimals.
Tips:
- Multiply time by 24 to convert it to the number of hours in a day (divide by 24 to reverse the conversion).
- Multiply time by 1440 to convert it to the number of minutes in a day (divide by 1440 to reverse the conversion).
- To convert time to seconds, multiply it by 86400, which is the number of seconds in a day (divide by 86400 to reverse the conversion).
2. Convert Total Minutes in Numbers to Time or Duration in Google Sheets
Let’s consider a different scenario. Suppose you have a column with machine runtimes recorded in minutes, and the total runtime is in cell B8. You want to convert these numbers to hours and minutes in time or duration format.
To achieve this, insert the following formula in cell C2 and copy-paste it until C8:
=B2/1440Next, format the output cells as time or duration by going to the Format menu, selecting Number, and choosing either Time or Duration. It’s crucial to format cell C8 as a duration, not as time.
By following these steps, you can convert minutes represented as numbers to their corresponding time or duration format in Google Sheets.
3. How to Convert Decimals (Decimal Places) to Minutes in Google Sheets
In certain situations, it’s common to record work hours and minutes as decimal numbers, such as 1.38, which represents 1 hour and 38 minutes. While this format might be visually convenient, it can cause issues when performing calculations.
To convert decimal hours and minutes to a recognizable time format in Google Sheets, you can use a simple solution: substitute the period (.) with a colon (:). Here is the formula to achieve that:
=value(SUBSTITUTE(B8,".",":"))After applying the formula, format the result as time by going to the Format menu, selecting Number, and choosing Time (Duration).
If you encounter a #VALUE error, don’t panic. It’s likely because the number you’re trying to convert should contain two decimal places. For example, use 2.20 instead of 2.2 to represent two hours and twenty minutes. To ensure two decimal places, format the range B2:B7 using the “Increase decimal places” icon on the Sheets toolbar.
With this simple formula, you can effortlessly convert decimal places to minutes in Google Sheets.
Conclusion
Mastering the skill of converting decimals to minutes and vice versa in Google Sheets opens up a world of possibilities. Whether you are managing payrolls, calculating billable hours, or working on any time-related task, understanding this conversion process is indispensable. With the formulas and tips provided in this article, you can easily handle these conversions in your Google Sheets.
To explore more tips, tutorials, and resources for Google Sheets, visit Crawlan.com.
