A couple issues here: I have a formula that is trying to determine if a time duration (ex 7:51) is greater than or less than a baseline duration value.  When typing the formula I have to put the baseline number in quotations ex =IF(B3=SB,IF(AND(I3<13:01,J3>49,K3>49,L3>5,M3<12:01),P,F) otherwise the formula thinks I'm referring to a range of cells.  Doing it this way doesn't produce an error but the formula doesn't work correctly in that no matter if the time entered is less than or greater than the baseline, the same result is produced.I can make the formula work by inputting the data without a colon and  separating the min:sec with a period instead, but I'm just not happy doing things this way.  I want to be able to enter the data using the true format which is min:sec. I feel like the answer here is within the way the cell is formatted to display the data, but I've tried many many options and none of them seem to do the trick.  I have zero experience with script editing either so that's another avenue that has not been explored, nor do I even know what capabilities that could unlock. 
Time duration formatting in Google Spreadsheets
google spreadsheets;formulas;duration