- Metric Units of Measurement
- Home
- Choosing Metric Measurement Units
- Measuring Length to the Nearest Centimeter
- Measuring Length to the Nearest Millimeter
- Metric Distance Conversion with Whole Number Values
- Metric Mass or Capacity Conversion with Whole Number Values
- Metric Distance Conversion with Decimal Values
- Metric Conversion with Decimal Values: Two-Step Problem
- Time Unit Conversion with Whole Number Values
- Introduction to Adding Time
- Introduction to Elapsed Time
- Converting between Metric and U.S. Customary Unit Systems
Introduction to Elapsed Time
Elapsed time in simple terms is the amount of time that passes from the start of an event to its end. In this lesson, you will learn how to solve for elapsed time and explore how it can be used in your everyday life.
Say it is 3:15pm in the afternoon and you are to meet your friend at 6:25 pm. Before you leave you should shower, get dressed, and have time to get to your friend's house. Now you must figure out in how much time you must finish your tasks and arrive at 6:25pm.
Definition
Elapsed time is the amount of time that passes from the start of an event to its finish. In simple terms, elapsed time is the time that goes by from one time (say 3:15pm) to another (6:25pm).
The first thing you always do when solving for elapsed time is to find out your start time and end time. Here, start time is 3:15 pm and end time is 6:25 pm. Looking at a clock, we know that the next hour to pass after start time 3:15 pm would be 4:00pm. So, counting from 3:15 to 4:00 there are 45 minutes between the two times. Similarly, counting from 6:00pm to 6:25pm, we see that there are 25 minutes between the two times. We have now to count the hours in the middle. We see that there are two hours between 4:00pm and 6:00pm. The final step in finding out our elapsed time is to add together these durations.
So, elapsed time
= 45 min + 2 hours + 25 min
= 70 min + 2 hours
= 1 hour + 2 hour + 10 min
= 3 hours 10 minutes
How much time has elapsed during the following interval?
4:40 am to 7:20 am
Solution
Step 1:
Start time = 4:40 am; Final time = 7:20 am
Step 2:
To find the elapsed time, we subtract the start time from final time as follows
7:20 am – 4:40 am = 2:48 = 2 hours 40 minutes
How much time has elapsed during the following interval?
2:00 pm to 4:16 pm
Solution
Step 1:
Start time = 2:00 pm; Final time = 4:16 pm
Step 2:
To find the elapsed time, we subtract the start time from final time as follows
4:16 pm – 2:00 pm = 2:16 = 2 hours 16 minutes
How much time has elapsed during the following interval?
6:10 pm to 9:21 pm
Solution
Step 1:
Start time = 6:10 pm; Final time = 9:21 pm
Step 2:
To find the elapsed time, we subtract the start time from final time as follows
9:21 pm – 6:10 pm = 3:11 = 3 hours 11 minutes