Few days back we have learned how to find if 2 sets of dates overlap using Excel Formulas. For eg. we have learned that to check whether {1 July,2010 to 23 July 2010} overlaps with the date range {15 July, 2010 to 16 August 2010}, we can use a formula like,
=if(or(and(x>=a,x<=b),and(a>=x,a<=y)), "Overlap","Do not overlap")
where {x,y} are {1 July,2010 to 23 July 2010} and {a,b} are {15 July, 2010 to 16 August 2010}.
Robert, an Excel School student asked a question last week that adds an interesting twist to this problem.
I’m trying to calculate days using several nested IF functions, but I keep getting errors – was hoping you might be able to evaluate my formula and tell me what I’m doing incorrectly:
Here is my framework – I have a start date field which can be any date (let’s call this f6), and an end date field which can be any date (let’s call this g6). I want to calculate the number of days within the start date and end date that fall within the month May 2010.
Essentially Robert wants to find out how may days between {x,y} overlap with {a,b}.
Now, I have already figured out a simple enough solution for it. But it is no fun showing off what I know. So here is the homework for you.
Your homework:
Figure out how to find the number of days in overlap and post your answer in comments (click here).
PS: Today, I am attending a talk by Seth Godin at Hyderabad. I am super excited to finally hear him live. I have been reading his blog for almost 5 years now, and he has been one of the motivating forces for me. So naturally I will be slow to approve comments or reply to mails. Give me a day to get back to you.
13 Responses to “Convert fractional Excel time to hours & minutes [Quick tip]”
Hi Purna..
Again a great tip.. Its a great way to convert Fractional Time..
By the way.. Excel has two great and rarely used formula..
=DOLLARFR(7.8,60) and =DOLLARDE(7.48,60)
basically US Account person uses those to convert some currency denomination.. and we can use it to convert Year(i.e 3.11 Year = 3 year 11 month) and Week(6.5 week = 6 week 5 days), in the same manner...
This doesn't work for me. When applying the custom format of [h]:mm to 7.8 I get 187:12
Any ideas why?
@Jason
7.8 in Excel talk means 7.8 days
=7.8*24
=187.2 Hrs
=187 Hrs 12 Mins
If you follow Chandoo's instructions you will see that he divides the 7.8 by 24 to get it to a fraction of a day
Simple, assuming the fractional time is in cell A1,
Use below steps to convert it to hours & minutes:
1. In the target cell, write =A1/24
2. Select the target cell and press CTRL+1 to format it (you can also right click and select format cells)
3. Select Custom from “Number” tab and enter the code [h]:mm
4. Done!
Hi, sorry to point this out but Column C Header is misspelt 'Hours Palyed'
good one
So how do I go the other way and get hours and minutes to fractional time?
If you have 7.5 in cell A1,
- Use int(A1) to get the hours.
- Use mod(A1,1)*60 to get minutes.
If you have 7:30 (formatted as time) in A1
- Use hours(a1) to get hours
- Use minutes(a1) to get minutes.
I had the same issue. You can solve it by changing the format as described above:
Right click cell > Format Cells > (In Number tab) > Custom > Then enter the code [h]:mm
([hh]:mm and [hhh]:mm are nice too if you want to show leading zeros)
Thanks guys, these are the tips I'm looking for.
...dividing the number of minutes elapsed by the percent change is my task - "int" is the key this time
It doesnt work for greater than 24 hours
It returns 1:30 for 25.5 hours. It should have returned 25:30
Ideally I would right function as
=QUOTIENT(A1,1)&":"&MOD(A1,1)*60
Sorry, replied to wrong comment....
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I had the same issue. You can solve it by changing the format as described above:
Right click cell > Format Cells > (In Number tab) > Custom > Then enter the code [h]:mm
([hh]:mm and [hhh]:mm are nice too if you want to show leading zeros)
Clever use of MOD here to extract the decimal part of a number. Divide a number containing a decimal by 1 and return the remainder. Humm. Very clever.
Thanks very much, extremely useful !