Calculators & everyday math
Decimal Hours vs. Hours and Minutes
Timesheets and payroll often use decimal hours — 7.5 rather than 7 hours 30 minutes — because decimals are easy to multiply by an hourly rate. Mixing the two formats is a common source of errors. This guide shows how to convert both ways.
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Minutes to decimal hours
Divide the minutes by 60 and add the result to the hours: 7 hours 30 minutes is 7 + 30 ÷ 60 = 7.5 hours, and 8 hours 20 minutes is about 8.33 hours.
Conversion table
| Minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 6 | 0.1 |
| 12 | 0.2 |
| 15 | 0.25 |
| 20 | ≈ 0.33 |
| 30 | 0.5 |
| 40 | ≈ 0.67 |
| 45 | 0.75 |
| 50 | ≈ 0.83 |
Decimal hours back to minutes
Multiply the decimal part by 60: 7.75 hours is 7 hours plus 0.75 × 60 = 45 minutes. And 8.2 hours is 8 hours 12 minutes — not 8 hours 20 minutes.
The classic mistake
Reading 7.30 as “7 hours 30 minutes” is wrong in decimal form: 7.30 hours is 7 hours 18 minutes. At $20 an hour, the difference between 7.30 and 7.5 hours is $4.
Rounding
Thirds of an hour have no exact decimal: 20 minutes is 0.3333… hours. Two decimal places is usual for timesheets, but rounding every entry before adding them up can shift a weekly total slightly; rounding the total once is more accurate.
Decimal Hours FAQ
- How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
- Divide by 60: 45 minutes is 0.75 hours.
- What is 7 hours 45 minutes in decimal hours?
- 7.75 hours.
- What is 8.5 hours in hours and minutes?
- 8 hours 30 minutes.
- Is 7.30 hours the same as 7 hours 30 minutes?
- No. 7.30 decimal hours is 7 hours 18 minutes; 7 hours 30 minutes is 7.5 hours.
- Why is 20 minutes shown as about 0.33 hours?
- A third of an hour has no exact decimal, so it is rounded to 2 decimal places.
Related guides
- Hours Between TimesSubtract clock times in hours and minutes, borrow 60 minutes when needed, convert 12-hour times to 24-hour, and check a timesheet.
- Hours, Minutes, SecondsConvert durations between hours, minutes, and seconds, split a number of seconds into hours, minutes, and seconds, and turn decimal hours into minutes.
Open the tool
Jump into Hours Between Times Calculator when you are ready to process your files.
