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On the left side, we have a veteran warrior with 37 years of data battle scars and redundant six pack. They call him SQL.
On the right side, there is a young challenger with transformative powers and “never say undo” attitude. He goes by the moniker Power Query.
Who is going to win this battle?!?

I have been using SQL for 25 years and Power Query since it came out in early 2012. And in this article, let me share my views on how SQL compares with Power Query. If you prefer to listen, check out the podcast episode – SQL vs. Power Query.
Listen: SQL vs. Power Query Podcast Episode
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SQL vs. Power Query - The Comparison
SQL
Power Query
What can you do?
All CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete)
Only Read the data
What kind of data?
Usually single source from a database or warehouse
(ex: SQL Server)
Can access data from anywhere and combine data from multiple sources too.
How do you use it?
You need to “WRITE” queries to use SQL.
You “BUILD” Power Queries using the UI buttons and menu options.
Where can you use it?
Works almost universally. You can use SQL with most database systems and programming languages.
Only with Microsoft stack of products, primarily with Power BI, Excel and Fabric.
Who can use it?
By default, you need permissions / special software to use SQL.
Almost anyone can use Power Query as it comes packaged with Excel and Power BI.
How fast is it?
Built for performance and scalability. You can use SQL to access data quite efficiently.
Can become slow and tedious as your data grows.
Resources for Learning SQL
Resources for Learning Power Query
What do you think?
Have you used both or either of these technologies? What do you think? Leave a comment with your thoughts.














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....
----
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 !