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I am testing pomodoro efficiency and would like to learn the proper equation for finding total break and work time in a set duration of hours.

My sample is: If I work 90 minutes, break for 15 minutes, inside of a 9.5 hour time, how can I figure out how many 15 minute breaks are available to tally the total break time to subtract it from the total work time?

Thank you for your help!

Victor Bureau
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  • I think I found the answer. I added the pomodoro work and break time in minutes divided by 60, which gives me the blocks per hour. And then multiplied that number by the total work day in hours (total duration), which gives me blocks per day. From there I can multiply the work time by blocks per day to get minutes, and the same for the break time. Collectively, it should add up to match the same as the total work day duration in minutes.

    I will have to extend this to find a way to add in a longer break every X amount of hours.

     – Victor Bureau Aug 19 '18 at 16:17

1 Answers1

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No fancy calculations needed. Just find the total number of minutes in a workday and divide by 105 (90+15). The integer portion will be the number of breaks you can take in a day. $That$ times 15 is the total break time in a day.

poetasis
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  • I don't know why I started off by dividing by 60. Thank you for being smarter! – Victor Bureau Aug 19 '18 at 17:57
  • My answer was accepted. Why was I voted down since yesterday? Anybody? I'm listening. – poetasis Aug 21 '18 at 16:47
  • I just noticed the math doesn't seem to check out on this unless I'm missing something.
    1. Total number of minutes is 360 (6 hours).
    2. 360/105 is simply 3.43, which is stated as being the number of breaks you can take in a day.

    The problem is, if you map that out on a calendar, you have 3 breaks, which cleanly comes out to 45 minutes and not 51ish. Am I computing it incorrectly? I'm guessing there's an issue with including the last break of 15 minutes at the tail end of the day, no?

     – Victor Bureau Sep 06 '18 at 23:58
  • $9.5*60=570$ minutes in a 9.5 hour work day.

    $90+15=105$ minutes in a work/break cycle.

    Using the floor function $Int(570/105) = 5$ $whole$ work/break cycles in 9.5 hours.

    $5*15=75$ is the total break time in a 9.5 hour day.

     – poetasis Sep 07 '18 at 15:31
  • If you had a 6 hour work day, you would have 3 breaks for a total of 45 minutes off. Remember, we're only talking about the number of full 105 minute cycles. After 270 minutes, you would work another 90 minutes and then your 4th break would be going home. – poetasis Sep 07 '18 at 15:47
  • I made a mistake in the prior comment: $105*3=315$ minutes in 3 work/break cycles. That leaves 45 minutes before you go home. – poetasis Sep 08 '18 at 00:59
  • Thanks so much for the break down. I think whole work/break cycles was a helpful keyword. So, based on this, then a 90+15 cycle is as efficient as a 60+10 cycle as the numbers match, right? – Victor Bureau Sep 11 '18 at 14:43
  • I'm not sure what you mean by efficient but, if you had a 60+12 cycle, exactly 5 would fit in a 6 hour day. (The last 10 minutes of work would be a break.) Glad I could help if I did. – poetasis Sep 11 '18 at 16:36