User guide

Decoding Time Fields

Time ﬁ elds are based on a simple mathematical relationship. The number represents the time that has elapsed since

midnight December 30, 1899, in days. For example:

Time Value Represents

0.25 Dec 30, 1899 6:00 AM

0.75 Dec 30, 1899 6:00 PM

1.5 Dec 31, 1899 Noon

365.25 Dec 30, 1900 6:00 AM

35065.625 Jan 1, 1996 3:00 PM

The integer portion of the number represents the number of days that have elapsed since December 30, 1899. The

fractional portion is the fractional part of a day (0 is midnight, 0.5 is noon and 0.9999884 is one second before midnight).

This is a time format used in several applications. For example, if these numbers are imported into Excel for Windows

they can be directly converted into time and date with the sequence:

Format, Cell, Modify, Number, Date, m/d/yy h:mm. (Note: The column width will have to be adjusted to display the

Day and Date correctly.)

Power User Hints