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Decimal Degrees to Degrees, Minutes, Seconds Calculator

Enter decimal degrees to convert to degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS).

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Degrees, minutes, & seconds:.

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How to convert decimal degrees to degrees, minutes, and seconds, step one: find whole degrees, step two: find minutes, step three: find seconds, step four: rewrite decimal as degree, minutes, & seconds, decimal degrees to dms example, frequently asked questions.

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Angular measurements are commonly expressed using degrees, minutes, and seconds, otherwise referred to as DMS. In this representation, degrees are the whole units without any decimal places.

Minutes , denoted with an apostrophe, are used to express an angular value less than one degree, and seconds , denoted with two apostrophes, are used to express an angular value less than one minute.

Minutes, so as not to be confused with the time measurement, are often referred to as arcminutes, and seconds, so as not to be confused as well, are often called arcseconds. There are 60 arcseconds in one arcminute and 60 arcminutes in one degree.

There are a few simple steps to convert decimal degrees to degrees, minutes, and seconds.

Since minutes and seconds are used to express the measurement of an angle less than one degree, start by setting the whole number to the left of the decimal point as the number of degrees.

The decimal point, or the remainder of the angle that is less than one degree, can be converted to minutes and seconds. Multiply this decimal value by 60 to find the number of minutes.

minutes = remaining decimal × 60

This resulting number is the minutes and seconds. The whole number to the left of the decimal point is the number of minutes. The remainder, or the values to the right of the decimal, is the number of partial minutes, which need to be converted to seconds.

Multiply the remaining decimal value by 60 again to find the number of seconds.

seconds = remaining decimal × 60

Finally, express the whole degrees, minutes, and seconds with their respective symbols

D° M′ S″

For example, convert 47.31° to DMS.

Find the whole degrees: 47.31° = 47° + .31° whole degrees = 47°

Find minutes: minutes = .31 × 60 = 18.6′ minutes = 18′ + .6′ whole minutes = 18′

Find seconds: seconds = .6′ × 60 seconds = 36″

Thus, 47.31° is equal to 47° 18′ 36″ .

Here’s a fun fact: there are 360 degrees in a circle, and each degree is composed of 60 minutes or 3,600 seconds. That means that there are 21,600 minutes around a circle or 1,296,000 seconds around a circle.

Are decimal degrees and DMS the same thing?

Decimal degrees and DMS are just two different formats to represent the same value of an angle.

Why are minutes and seconds used with degrees?

Minutes and seconds are used to represent angles for historical reasons dating back to the sexagesimal system developed by the Babylonians.

Are minutes and seconds more precise than decimal degrees?

DMS is just as accurate as decimal degrees as long as no rounding is done when calculating the number of minutes and seconds.

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Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds

Hello, In this activity, I would like to do two things and I am not able to get it to work right.

I would like on slide 3, for the students to enter their answers using the symbols for degrees, minutes, and seconds. I started by trying in latex and that did not work so I tried numeric value and still no luck and now I have errors.

On slide 7, when students type 32.5% it automatically adds the word “of” behind the % and I would like it to not do that.

I ended up using initial latex to pre populate the table cells on this activity with the symbols for the degree in minutes and seconds: Angles in minutes and seconds • Activity Builder by Desmos

I used a hidden graph for the calculations.

#2 . There are some other discussions about this on the forum. It’s just how Desmos calculator works. You can opt to use text instead of a math input, which means you can’t have a checkmark on that slide. You could use a text table cell instead.

This approach is a bit of a work around, but it should get these screens to work unless you are asking for students to supply the units.

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