For this activity, and for everyday life too, you need to know that there are:

 

60 seconds in 1 minute

60 minutes in 1 hour

 

 

This means that there are:

 

30 seconds in ½ minute

15 seconds in ¼ minute

45 seconds in ¾ minute

 

30 minutes in ½ hour

15 minutes in ¼ hour

45 minutes in ¾ hour

 

 

Don't worry if you feel like the child above, you don't have to learn it all at once!

 

Let's see how it works in practice.

 

Example 1

Jack takes 5¼ minutes to learn his capital cities.

How many seconds is this?

 

Answer

1 minute = 60 seconds.

½ minute = 30 seconds.

¼ minute = 15 seconds.

5 minutes = 5 × 60 = 300 + ¼  minute = 300 + 15 = 315 seconds.

 

 

Example 2

Ahmed starts work at 9.00 a.m. and finishes at 4:30 p.m.

For how many minutes is he at work?

 

Answer

From 9.00 a.m. to 4 .00 p.m. is 7 hours.

30 minutes is half an hour.

So Ahmed is at work for 7½ hours.

 

7 hours = 7 × 60 = 420 + ½ hour  = 420 + 30 = 450 minutes.

 

That looks a bit simpler, doesn't it?

Let's have a go at some questions and remember that you can check back to these examples any time you need to by clicking on the pink button on the right-hand side of the screen.