Entering a timing -- not a time - a timing

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Level 1

4 points

Entering a timing -- not a time - a timing

Hello all,

Anyone know a way to enter a timing? For example, if I try to enter "10 minutes and 30 seconds" as 10:30, it interprets it as a clock time. Which means, if I try to enter 15:30 (15 minutes and 30 seconds) it enters it as "3:30 PM" or the equivalent in 24 hour time.

How to I tell it to recognize a timing? Right now I'm using a decimal (15.30) which is, I suppose, manageable, but it would be nice to have it work the way I figure it should! I need it to be a number so that I can graph it. I suppose another workaround would be to convert the decimal so that 15 minutes 30 seconds would be "15.5" minutes. But again, a way that isn't a workaround would be fantastic!

It keeps it right in Excel, although I'm thinking it's deciding that it's text rather than a number.

Keeping track of track & field, running, and cycling times is going to be a pain! Especially with others helping with data entry.

Thanks all,

Aaron

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jul 21, 2008 3:26 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 21, 2008 6:44 PM in response to amsivertson

Try this:

(1) for data entry record the minutes and seconds into adjacent cells eg A1 would contain 15 and B1 would contain 30,

(2) in cell c1 enter a formula "=(A1*60+B1)/60" this would calculate the time in decimal minutes with the result in this case equal to 15.5,

(3) continue recording times in rows 2, 3, 4 ...,

(4) use the resulting figures in column C for your graph.

(if you prefer to use seconds rather than decimal minutes omit the '/60', the result in C1 would then be 930)

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Answer 2

Jul 21, 2008 8:58 PM in response to amsivertson

If your only concern is formatting and not performing calculations on the data, format the fields as Date/Time field using 24 hour time in the HH:MM format. You can enter your times as suggested. The field will accept a time over 24 hours (i.e., minutes), such as 30:15 - thirty minutes and fifteen seconds - but will align it to the left. So set the column alignment to the right so that the values line up.

Good luck,

Terry

Message was edited by: Terry Keelan1

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Answer 3

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,825 points

Jul 22, 2008 2:36 AM in response to amsivertson

There is no timing value in Numbers.
So when you enter 10:30 it interprets the entry as 10 hours 30 minutes.
The standard soluce is to enter 0:10:30.

If you really want to spare typing, a workaround may be:
in B1 enter
10:30
in C1 insert the formula:
=TIME(0,0,MOD((B-TIME(0,0,0)),1) 2460)

which will automatically convert your "wrong" entry in what you really wanted.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 22 juillet 2008 11:36:44)

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Answer 4

amsivertson Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 6, 2008 9:13 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

Thanks everyone -- that gives me a few things to try!

Cheers,

Aaron

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