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Clock Angle Problem

Clock angle problems involve calculating the angles of the hands on an analog clock face. The hour hand moves 30 degrees each hour, while the minute hand moves 6 degrees each minute. To find the angle between the hands, the hour hand angle is subtracted from the minute hand angle. The hands overlap only when these angles are equal, which occurs at times like 5:45.

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Divy Agarwal
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1K views3 pages

Clock Angle Problem

Clock angle problems involve calculating the angles of the hands on an analog clock face. The hour hand moves 30 degrees each hour, while the minute hand moves 6 degrees each minute. To find the angle between the hands, the hour hand angle is subtracted from the minute hand angle. The hands overlap only when these angles are equal, which occurs at times like 5:45.

Uploaded by

Divy Agarwal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Clock angle problem

• H is the hour.
• M is the minutes past the hour.
• MΣ is the minutes past 12 o'clock.

1.2 Equation for the angle of the minute


hand
θmin. = 6M
where:

• θis the angle in degrees of the hand measured clock-


wise from the 12 o'clock position.
• M is the minute.

The diagram shows the angles formed by the hands of an analog


1.2.1 Example
clock showing a time of 2:20
The time is 5:24. The angle in degrees of the hour hand
is:
Clock angle problems are a type of mathematical prob-
lem which involve finding the angles between the hands
of an analog clock. 1
θhr = (60 × 5 + 24) = 162
2
The angle in degrees of the minute hand is:
1 Math problem
Clock angle problems relate two different measurements: θmin. = 6 × 24 = 144
angles and time. The angle is typically measured in
degrees from the mark of number 12 clockwise. The time
is usually based on 12-hour clock. 1.3 Equation for the angle between the
A method to solve such problems is to consider the rate hands
of change of the angle in degrees per minute. The hour
hand of a normal 12-hour analogue clock turns 360° in 12 The angle between the hands can be found using the for-
hours (720 minutes) or 0.5° per minute. The minute hand mula:
rotates through 360° in 60 minutes or 6° per minute.[1]
∆θ = |θhr − θmin. |

1.1 Equation for the angle of the hour 1
= (60H + M ) − 6M
hand
2

1
1 1
= (60H − 11M )
θhr = MΣ = (60H + M ) 2
2 2
where: where

• H is the hour
• θis the angle in degrees of the hand measured clock-
wise from the 12 • M is the minute

1
2 4 EXTERNAL LINKS

1.3.1 Example

The time is 2:20.


1
∆θ = (60 × 2 − 11 × 20)
2

1
= (120 − 220)
2
= 50

1.4 When are the hour and minute hands


of a clock superimposed?
The hour and minute hands are superimposed only when
their angle is the same.

θhr = θmin.
1
⇒ (60H + M ) = 6M
2
⇒ 11M = 60H
60
⇒M = H
11
⇒ M = 5.45H

H is an integer in the range 0–11. This gives times of:


0:00, 1:05.45, 2:10.90, 3:16.36, etc. (0.45 minutes are
exactly 27.27 seconds.)

2 See also
• Clock position

3 References
[1] Elgin, Dave (2007). “Angles on the Clock Face”. Mathe-
matics in School (The Mathematical Association) 36 (5):
4-5. JSTOR 30216063.

4 External links
• http://www.delphiforfun.org/Programs/clock_
angle.htm

• http://www.ldlewis.com/hospital_clock/ - extensive
clock angle analysis

• http://www.jimloy.com/puzz/clock1.htm
3

5 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses


5.1 Text
• Clock angle problem Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock%20angle%20problem?oldid=636447987 Contributors: Michael Hardy,
Dave.Dunford, Dah31, Grovek, DVdm, Stephenb, SmackBot, Melchoir, Octahedron80, MichaelXXLF, Mhaitham.shammaa, MER-C,
Gprince007, The Evil Spartan, Nick Connolly, Errorneous, ClueBot, Jusdafax, Ldlewis, Addbot, AnomieBOT, SayFlo, Companioncube31,
Pr. Ultracrepidarian, ToematoeAdmn, 4, HiGuest, Ibmarul, ClueBot NG, Widr, Theopolisme, Helpful Pixie Bot, ChrisGualtieri, Dashing-
hamza, Tentinator, Wamiq, Shaunzz kepler and Anonymous: 71

5.2 Images
• File:ClockAngles.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/ClockAngles.jpg License: Public domain Contribu-
tors: Own work (Original text: self made) Original artist: Nick Connolly at English Wikipedia
• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007

5.3 Content license


• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

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