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Learn to divide seconds by minutes with ease
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Looking to convert seconds to minutes? That's a piece of cake! We're going to walk you through this super simple equation, step by step. And after this super quick read, you'll be an expert. Plus, we'll even include some practice problems to help you sharpen your skills. Ready to get started? Scroll down to learn everything you need to know!

Seconds to Minutes

Since there are 60 seconds in every minute, divide the number of seconds you have by 60 to find out how many minutes there are. If you get a decimal, multiply the decimal part by 60 to get it back into seconds.

  1. No matter where you are in the world, this is always the case. So that means:[1]
    • 60 seconds = 1 minute
    • 120 seconds = 2 minutes
    • 180 seconds = 3 minutes
    • 240 seconds = 4 minutes
    • 300 seconds = 5 minutes
  2. Because there are 60 seconds in 1 minute, dividing by 60 is how you'll figure out how many minutes have elapsed. If 360 seconds have passed, how many minutes have passed? We need to know how many 60 second chunks are in 360 seconds. So, we'll do this: 360/60. The answer is 6, so our answer is 6 minutes.[2]
    • Example: How many minutes are in 240 seconds?
    • 1 Minute = 60 Seconds
    • 240 / 60
    • Answer: There are 4 minutes in 240 seconds.
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  3. Oftentimes the number of seconds will not perfectly convert into minutes, so your answer will include a decimal. This represents the number of seconds left over. For example, say you wanted to convert 7600 seconds to minutes: 7600 / 60 = 126.6. That ".6" isn't really useful in terms of time, so we'll multiply it by 60 to put it back into seconds: 60 x .6 = 36 seconds. Your answer is 126 minutes and 36 seconds!
    • Example: How many minutes are in 90 seconds?
    • 90 / 60 = 1.5 minutes
    • 0.5 x 60 = 30 seconds
    • Answer There is 1 minute and 30 seconds in 90 seconds.
  4. If you did your work correctly, you'll end up with the same number of seconds that you started with. Looking at the previously example, notice that 126.6 x 60 = 7600, so the answer is correct.[3]
  5. Practice your conversions with the following examples. Then, check the answers we've included here to see if you've mastered the process![4]
    • 1) Convert 45667 seconds to minutes
      • Answer: 761 min and 7 seconds
    • 2) Convert 99800 seconds to minutes
      • Answer: 1663 min and 20 seconds
    • 3) Convert 4454457555 seconds to minutes
      • Answer: 74240959 min and 15 seconds
  6. There are also 60 minutes in an hour, so we use the same process, dividing by 60, to determine how many seconds are in an hour.[5]
    • Example: How many hours is 7200 seconds?
    • 7200 / 60 = 120 minutes.
    • 120 / 60 = 2 hours
    • Answer: 7200 seconds equals 2 hours.
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    How can I change 560 seconds into minutes?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Follow the directions. Divide 560 by 60 to get 9.33333... Subtract the whole number (9) so you're just left with the .33333... part. Multiply by that by 60 to get 20. Your answer is 9 minutes 20 seconds.
  • Question
    Do I divide or multiply?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Multiply by 60 if you want to convert minutes to seconds and by 3600 if converting hours to seconds
  • Question
    How can I find minutes from fractions?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    If you mean fractions of an hour, you multiply by sixty then multiply by the fraction, e.g. 3/4 of an hour = 60 X3 then divide by 4 = 45 minutes.
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About This Article

Grace Imson, MA
Reviewed by:
Math Teacher
This article was reviewed by Grace Imson, MA and by wikiHow staff writer, Caroline Heiderscheit. Grace Imson is a math teacher with over 40 years of teaching experience. Grace is currently a math instructor at the City College of San Francisco and was previously in the Math Department at Saint Louis University. She has taught math at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels. She has an MA in Education, specializing in Administration and Supervision from Saint Louis University. This article has been viewed 745,614 times.
9 votes - 42%
Co-authors: 26
Updated: November 26, 2024
Views: 745,614
Categories: Conversion Aids
Article SummaryX

To convert seconds to minutes, divide the number of seconds by 60, since there are 60 seconds in a minute. If you get a decimal in your answer, multiply only the decimal part by 60. For example, if you get 1.6 minutes as an answer, you'd multiply .6 by 60 to get 36 seconds, and your final answer would be 1 minute and 36 seconds. For example problems and ways to check your work, read on!

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