How many seconds in total are there in x weeks, x days, x hours, x minutes and x seconds?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) 694861x
Convert each unit to seconds: a week is 604800 s, a day 86400 s, an hour 3600 s, a minute 60 s. Adding these and the lone second gives 694861 seconds for every x.
- 1 week = 7 × 24 × 3600 = 604800 s; 1 day = 24 × 3600 = 86400 s; 1 hour = 3600 s; 1 minute = 60 s.
- Total = (604800 + 86400 + 3600 + 60 + 1)x = 694861x seconds.
- Check: the x seconds make the coefficient end in 1, and one week alone is 604800x, so only 694861x fits.
Remember · Use the last digit as a filter: the extra ‘x seconds’ makes the total end in 1.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·