Finding the number of minutes in a year may seem like straightforward math that can be quickly attempted and solved especially if you are a math lover. If you go ahead with the calculation, you most likely will arrive at Five hundred and twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes (525,600), which of course, is correct. However, what you may not have known is that there is a chance that this answer could be wrong just as it is correct.
How to calculate the number of minutes in a year
Before delving into why and what situation 525,600 minutes could be wrong, let us first establish how to come by this result. It is necessary to state that if you are not a mathematics lover or find calculation generally difficult, you do not have to worry because the calculation process is really simplified here. In fact, you do not need more than basic geometry knowledge to go through and understand it perfectly. Just follow the outlined steps.
- STEP ONE: Breakdown the units of time in a year
A year is made up of 12 months, each month is made up of days, a day has 24 hours, and a single hour is made up of 60 minutes. You could continue down to seconds, but it is not necessary for now.
- STEP TWO: Find out the total number of days in a year
This is because the number of days in the months of the year is not the same. So, it is easier to determine and work with the total number of days in a year, which is 365.
- STEP THREE: Find out how many minutes there are in a single day
To arrive at the answer, all you need to do is to multiply the number of minutes in a single hour with the total number of hours in a day. i.e.
60 (minutes) x 24 = 1440 minutes (in a day)
- STEP FOUR: Multiply the number of minutes in a day with the number of days in a year
1440 (minutes) x 365 = 525,600 minutes (in a year).
Arriving at the answer above is quite easy and straight forward. Apart from the ease and directness of the approach, the answer is also the most generally accepted one because in most cases, when the number of minutes in a year is asked, that is what is meant.
The unpopular answer for the number of minutes in a year
While you may score a hundred percent if you present the answer above in a general setting, that may not be the case if you find yourself in a critical setting. A critical setting may be like in an advanced geography class or before a critical professor of science. You probably may be asking what exactly would make the popular and generally accepted answer different. Well, here it is.
Calculating the actual number of minutes in a year (critically speaking)
The number of days in a year is gotten from the number of days it takes the earth to revolve around the sun. You probably knew that or had an idea. But did you know that a year is not exactly made up of 365 days but of 365 ¼ days. This means that it takes the earth about 365 days and one-quarter of a day (that is 6 hours) to complete a revolution. This is the reason why once every four years, there is a leap year in which an extra day is added to the calendar on the month of February. So, in a critical setting, the total minutes in a year would be given by
Total minutes in day x 365 ¼ or
Total minutes in a day x (365 days + 6 hours)
Number of minutes in 6 hours = 60 x 6 = 360minutes
Number of minutes in 365 days = 1440 x 365 = 525,600 minutes
Total number of minutes = 525,600 + 360 = 525,960 minutes.
It is very important to note that you would be considered wrong if you provide the above answer when you are not in a place where this kind of criticality is required.
