Basic Question - Convert Time to Decimal

[LadyGrey26]

Hello, I have a very basic question. It's been awhile since I've used Excel for more than just the simple stuff.

I have to calculate times, but once I have the time, it needs to be converted to a decimal.

Example:
12:00p to 12:15p= 00:15 min = .25 hour

I would like those four numbers to each be their own column, so I'll be able to quickly enter the times (12:00p and 12:15p) and Excel will calculate both the :15 min and the .25 hour cells. My biggest concern is when the times are less optimal, say 1:35p to 2:10p = 00:35 = ? hour.

Any help is appreciated. I'm going to bide my time reviewing the Microsoft Online Tutorial for Excel and time, but I figured it'd be faster to just ask you wonderful people for the answer.

Thanks! ~LG

 

[schielrn]

Something like this should work, but you will need to format the cell to number or genreal:

Excel Workbook
	C	D	E
15	12:15 PM	12:00 PM	0.25
16	2:10 PM	1:35 PM	0.583333
Sheet1

Cell Formulas
Range	Formula
E15	=(C15-D15)*24

Hope that helps.

 

[LadyGrey26]

Thank you, that works fine. I'm curious to know why multiplying it by 24 gives the right answer though. Do you know? Does it have to do with how Excel reads the time, as a decimal between 0 and 1, but not including 1? (See I really did check out the tutorial!)

 

[schielrn]

, yes Excel does store times as decimals, just as it stores dates as numbers just incrementing by one. Sicne time as a day is stored as a decimal and there are 24 hours in a day, multiplying it by 24 will get its conversion of an hour.