how do I determine how long something is in minutes if it's given as a decimal?
For example, if a time is stated as .06 of an hour, how many minutes is that? Do I just multiply by 60, so it's 3.6 minutes?
What about .53? Would that be 31.8 minutes?
yes, you do. and yes, it is.
Or, consider it just a problem of conversion of units.
1 hour = 60 minutes
That means that
1hr/60min = 60min/1hr = 1
To convert hours to minutes, just multiply by 1, which does not change anything. But you choose the "1" which gets rid of the units you do not want.
2.34 hr * 60min/1hr = 2.34*60 = 140.4 min
If you ever have trouble remembering what to multiply by, or whether to divide, just remember to include the units in your calculation. Just keep multiplying by 1 to get to the units you want.
want to convert ft/s to km/hr? Can't remember all the various metric/English equivalents, but you do recall that 1 inch = 2.54cm?
53 ft/s * 3600s/hr * 12in/ft * 2.54cm/in * 1m/100cm * 1km/1000m
= (53*3600*12*2.54)/(100*1000) = 58.16 km/hr
and all the unwanted units just cancel out