Minute

This article is about the unit of time. For angle, see Minute of arc. For the written record of a meeting, see Minutes. For other uses, see Minute (disambiguation).
minute
A digital clock showing zero hours and one minute
General information
Unit systemNon-SI units accepted for use with the SI
Unit oftime
Symbolmin
Conversions
1 min in ...... is equal to ...
   SI units   60 s
   Non-SI units   ⁠1/60⁠ h

Minute is a unit of time defined as equal to 60 seconds.[1] One hour contains 60 minutes.[2] Although not a unit in the International System of Units (SI), the minute is accepted for use in the SI.[1] The SI symbol for minutes is min (without a dot). The prime symbol ′ is also sometimes used informally to denote minutes.[3] In the UTC time standard, a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of leap seconds; there is also a provision to insert a negative leap second, which would result in a 59-second minute, but this has never happened in more than 40 years under this system.

  1. ^ a b "Non-SI units accepted for use with the SI, and units based on fundamental constants". Bureau International de Poids et Mesures. Archived from the original on 2014-11-11. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
  2. ^ "What is the origin of hours, minutes and seconds?". Wisteme. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-25. What we now call a minute derives from the first fractional sexagesimal place.
  3. ^ Nelson, D. (2008). "Prime symbol (accent)". The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.). Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0141920870.