Standard Time Conversions

Time is of the Essence…

So study hard so you can pass your exam! You have nearly three sections down so you are doing a great job! Let’s finish this section strong. It is time to tackle standard time conversions.

Addition

If you have reviewed standard capacity conversion and standard length conversion, you know the steps by now.

• Stack your problem
• Add like units
• Upgrade the smaller unit to the larger one if necessary

Subtraction

What is the key difference in your steps when you subtract standard unit conversions rather than add them? That’s right! Sometimes you have to “downgrade” the larger unit to be able to subtract. Remember the first two of stacking your problem and working like units are the same in subtraction as they are in addition.

Let’s work another example where the “downgrade” is necessary since we didn’t do one on the standard length page. We will change up the above example. In this scenario, Lucas has a time 24 minutes 33 seconds and Liesel has notched it down to 40 minutes 10 seconds. What is the difference between their time?

Multiplication

Remember you can work these multiple ways. 1) You can convert to the smaller unit and then multiply, 2) you can multiply each individual unit, or if the problem is already combined to the larger one like 1.3 years, then you can 3) multiply that before breaking into two individuals units for your answer.

Let’s do a simple problem all three ways using 1.3 years. What is your total years and weeks if you multiply 1.3 years by 5?

1. Since there are approximately 52 weeks in a year, we change 1 year to 52. For the .3 of a year, multiply .3 by 52 to get 15.6 weeks. Add 52 to 15.6 to get a total of 67.6 weeks, then multiply by 5. This gives you 340 weeks. Convert back to years by dividing 338 by 52. You will get approximately 6.5 years or 6 years 26 weeks.
2. Multiply your year by 5 to get 5 years. Break down .3 to weeks, which will be 15.6 weeks. Multiply 15.6 weeks by 5 to get 78 weeks. Convert the 78 weeks to years to get 1 year 28 weeks. Add back to the 5 years to get 6 years 26 weeks or approximately 6.5 years.
3. Multiply 1.3 by 5 to get 6.5 years. Divide 52 by 2 to break down the .5 to weeks. You will get 26 weeks so 6 years 26 weeks.

We just knocked out the same problem three different ways! As you can see, some paths are shorter than others, but they all lead to the same destination.

Division

Before scrolling down, try to work this problem first on your own. Divide 4 weeks 2 days by 2.

First, you convert the whole problem to days. Since 7 days make one week, multiply 7 x 4 to get 28, then add the 2 days for a total of 30. Divide 30 by 2 to get 15 days. Convert back to weeks. Divide 15 by 7 to get 2.1. This equates to 2 weeks 1 day. Is that what you got? Great job! You might have picked this route or a shorter way, but as long as you have grasped the principles, you are good to go!

---