Understanding Hours

Hours are a unit of measurement used to track the passage of time. They are part of the 24-hour time system, which divides a day into 24 hours. Understanding hours is important for telling time, scheduling activities, and calculating time durations.

Basic Concepts

An hour is equal to 60 minutes or 3,600 seconds. It is denoted using the symbol "h". There are 24 hours in a day, and they are typically counted from 12:00 AM (midnight) to 11:59 PM.

Reading the Clock

On an analog clock, the hour hand makes one full revolution every 12 hours. Each hour is marked by a number from 1 to 12. On a digital clock, the hours are displayed using numbers from 1 to 12, followed by "AM" (ante meridiem) for times in the morning and "PM" (post meridiem) for times in the afternoon and evening.

Converting Hours

To convert hours to minutes, you can multiply the number of hours by 60. For example, 2 hours is equal to 2 * 60 = 120 minutes. To convert hours to seconds, you can multiply the number of hours by 3,600. For example, 3 hours is equal to 3 * 3,600 = 10,800 seconds.

Examples

Example 1: If it is 3:00 PM now, how many hours until 7:00 PM?

To find the number of hours, we subtract the current time from the target time: 7:00 PM - 3:00 PM = 4 hours

Example 2: How many minutes are there in 5 hours?

To convert hours to minutes, we multiply by 60: 5 hours * 60 minutes/hour = 300 minutes

Understanding hours is an essential skill for everyday timekeeping and time-related calculations.

[Hours] Related Worksheets and Study Guides:

• Hour/Half-hourMathematics • Kindergarten
• Telling TimeMathematics • First Grade