Clock hands and the calendar
✓ With solution
How often do the clock hands meet? And on what day does the year end? Two questions about time that catch many people out.
From 12 noon until just before midnight, how many times are the hour hand and the minute hand exactly on top of each other? (Count 12 noon itself.)
- A10
- B11
- C12
- D24
Show the answer
Answer: B) 11. 11 times. Many people say 12, once an hour, but the hour hand is moving too, so the minute hand needs more than an hour to catch up with it: 1 hour, 5 minutes and about 27 seconds. So they meet at 12:00, then at about 1:05, 2:11, 3:16 and so on up to about 10:55. Between 11 and 12 they only meet at midnight exactly, which is outside the time. Another way to see it: in 12 hours the minute hand goes round 12 times and the hour hand once, so the minute hand laps it 11 times.
In a year that is not a leap year (it has 365 days), the first day, 1 January, is a Monday. What day of the week is the last day, 31 December?
- ASaturday
- BSunday
- CMonday
- DTuesday
Show the answer
Answer: C) Monday. Monday. 365 days = 52 weeks and 1 day. The 52 full weeks (364 days) start on Monday 1 January and end on Sunday 30 December, leaving one day, 31 December, which is a Monday, just like the first day of the year. That's why the next year starts on a Tuesday.
Never miss a puzzle
Subscribe to Khamantiq on YouTube and turn on the bell to get new puzzles first.