Question #f749d

2 Answers

Since there are 60 seconds in a minute:

Number of minutes x 60 s/min = number of seconds

Example:

Convert 75.6 minutes to seconds.

75.6 min x 60 s/min = 4,536 s

Jan 27, 2018

Full explanation given

Explanation:

Conversions usually have their roots in ratio

Did you know that you can and may write ratios in the format of a fraction. In such a case you must never loose sight of what the relationship is.

Consider the ratio #"minutes : seconds"->1:60#

Fraction format #("minutes")/("seconds")->1/60#

The thing is; that in this case we also have a link to the fraction side of things as 1 second is #1/60color(white)()^("th")# of 1 minute

If it is more convenient there is nothing to stop you writing this 'ratio' the other way up.

Fraction format #("seconds")/("minutes")->60/1#

This is where the term 60 seconds per minute comes from.
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Example: How many seconds are there in 35 minutes

By ratio

#color(green)(("seconds")/("minutes")->60/1color(red)(xx1))#

#color(green)(("seconds")/("minutes")->60/1color(red)(xx35/35))#

#color(green)(("seconds")/("minutes")->2100/35)#

So 35 minutes has 2100 seconds
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How do we relate this to algebraic manipulation?

Let #t# be the final count in seconds

#t" seconds" = ("seconds")/("minutes")xx"minutes used"#

#t" seconds" = (60" seconds")/(1color(white)(.) cancel("minutes"))xx35cancel(" minutes used")#

You can cancel units of measurement in the same way you do numbers

#t" seconds"=60xx35" seconds" = 2100" seconds"#