How many minutes are in a year? How the math is done

How many minutes are in a year? If you’re anything like me, then you’ve probably wondered how many minutes are in a year. Although it’s probably not an issue that you think about every day, except perhaps if you’re exceptionally curious or just a math lover. 

A year is defined as the orbital period of the Earth moving in its orbit around the Sun. One complete orbit of the Earth around the Sun is called a tropical year, or a solar year. The time it takes for the Earth to make one complete orbit around the Sun is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. A sidereal year is the time it takes for the Earth to rotate once around its axis regarding distant stars (about 365.256 days).

The way most people calculate the number of minutes in a year is incorrect. It’s not as simple as multiplying 365 by 60. You should use any of these methods to get the exact number of minutes in a year.

So let’s have some fun and get straight to answering the question of how many minutes are in a year? You will also learn the simple math behind the calculation.

How many minutes are in a year?

Let’s try different methods to calculate the number of minutes in a year.

Method 1 

To find out how many minutes are in a year, first go through the processes outlined below. This straightforward mathematical procedure is easy to understand by everybody, regardless of whether they enjoy mathematics or hate it. You do not need to be familiar with calculus or geometry to complete this task. It’s just a bunch of multiplication, addition, and subtraction operations.

To calculate how many minutes are in a year, you need to first ‌break down the unit of time in a year

In elementary school, they taught us:

60 seconds make a minute

60 minutes, make an hour

24 hours make a day

30 or 31 days make a month

12 months make a year

The simple things they taught us in elementary school are what will ‌we use for these calculations easy.

How many days make a year

The number of days that make in a year is 365 days, but during the leap year, the number of days that make it here is 366. But these calculations will make use of 365 days.

How many minutes make a day

Since we already know how many minutes make an hour and the number of hours that make a day has been established, then to know the minutes that make a day, a simple multiplication will give you the answer. 

60 minutes, make an hour

24 hours make a day

60 (minutes) x 24(hours) = 1440 minutes in a day.

1440 minutes make a day. 

Multiply the number of minutes that make a day by the number of days that make a year

Since 1440 minutes make a day, then let’s multiply the number of minutes in a day but the days of a year. 

1440 (minutes) x 365 (days) = 525,600 minutes

Now let’s calculate the number of minutes that make a leap year. Calculations are like that of a normal year. All you need to do is multiply the number of minutes in a day by the number of days in a leap year. 

1440 (minutes) x 366 (days) = 527,040 minutes

This calculation is pretty simple, straightforward, and it is the most popular method to calculate the number of minutes in a year, but did you know dived deeper, you will realise the answer differs ‌from the one above.

Method 2

How many minutes are in a year?

They taught us in school that it takes the earth to revolve around the sun for 365, but according to NASA, it takes over 365 days. NASA says it would take the earth 365 days, 5 hours, 59 minutes and 16 seconds to revolve around the orbit, which means our calculation isn’t accurate. 

With this extra 5 hours and 59 minutes, the number of minutes would be:

Number of minutes in a day multiplied by the number of days in a year

1440 X (365 days + 6 hours)

Before we can add or multiply, we have to know the number of minutes in  6 hours.

60 minutes X 6 hours = 360 minutes

If the number of minutes in 365 days is 525,600, then the number of minutes in 365 days, 360 minutes is

1440 X 365 = 525,600

525,600 + 360 = 525,960 minutes

Method 3

If 365 days make a year and 24 hours make a day, then you need to multiply the number of days by hours of the day.

365 days X 24 hours = 8760 hours in a year.

8760 X 60 minutes = 525600 minutes in a year.

In a leap year, 366 days make a year and 2 hours make a day.

365 days X 24 hours = 8760 hours

How many minutes are 6 hours?

60 minutes is an hour, which means

60 minutes X 6 hours = 360 minutes

8760 x 60 minutes = 525 600

525 600 minutes + 360 minutes = 525 960 minutes

These three methods would only take five minutes each to finish. If they gave you this question in a quick test, using 365 days only would work because it is straightforward. The second method would only be useful in in-depth tests. 

In the past, this simple calculation was possible because they defined the length of a year as the number of times Earth revolves around the sun. But as time passed, scientists realized that one Earth year is not exactly equal to 365 days. The actual length of Earth’s orbit takes 365.242199 days, and when you divide this figure by 12, you get 30.436833 days per month.

There are several methods for calculating the number of minutes in a year. There are literally an endless number of methods. However, let us focus on three popular approaches to providing these responses.

To summarise, it takes 525,600 minutes to complete a calendar year. If you found this post useful, then you should share with more people.