Units of time

​​In a nutshell

The units used on a daily basis are the second, minute and hour.  In order to consider time frames greater than this, use days, weeks, months and years.

Hours, minutes and seconds

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Example 1

How many seconds are in $$2$$ hours and $$3$$ minutes?

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

$$120+3 = 123 \text{ minutes}$$

$$123 \times 60 = \underline{7380 \text{ seconds}}$$

Days, weeks, months and years

Days and weeks are constant units of time. Use the following equations to convert between units:

​$$1$$ day = $$24$$ hours

​$$1$$ week = $$7$$ days

Unlike days and weeks, months and years can vary in how long they are:

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*On leap years, February has $$29$$​ days instead. This means that leap years last $$366$$​ days, while non-leap years last $$365$$​ days.

Example 2

How many days are between March $$18^{th}$$ and September $$2^{nd}$$?

Calculate how many days are left in March:

$$31-18=13$$​​

Calculate how many days make up the months between March and September:

$$30 + 31 + 30 + 31 + 31 = 153$$​​

Add the previous two values to the number of days in September: 

​$$13 + 153 + 1 = \underline{167 \text{ days}}$$

Note: As the question asked 'between', you do not need to include September $$2^{nd}.$$​