Elapsed time is the duration between a starting time and an ending time, found by relating hours and minutes on a clock or timeline. Learners solve problems with a known or unknown start time, end time, or duration—including intervals that cross an hour—by composing and decomposing hours and minutes rather than treating clock digits as ordinary base-ten numbers. The focus is on times within a single day, not date changes, time zones, or more advanced unit conversions.
Elapsed time is how long it takes to get from a starting time to an ending time. Use a clock or timeline and count forward, combining hours and minutes.
Example: A movie starts at 2:45 p.m. and ends at 4:10 p.m. How long is the movie?
Count from 2:45 to 3:00:
minutes.
Count from 3:00 to 4:00:
hour.
Count from 4:00 to 4:10:
minutes.
Combine the parts:
The movie lasts 1 hour 25 minutes.
Remember: Minutes are counted in groups of , not . A timeline helps you cross an hour correctly.
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