COMPUTATION OF THE SMALLEST ANGLE BETWEEN THE HANDS OF THE

CLOCK

Alfred Addo-Yobo, alfred@rikalla.com

Background:

There is actually no need or crude benefit in computing the angle between the hour
and minute hand of the clock apart from a derived joy of accomplishment. There are
twelve ordinates (each representing hours on the clock) arranged in a circular
manner on the average clock, inferring that there are twelve intervals. The total
angle in a circle is 3600 and thus given 12 intervals, each interval will have an angle
of 3600 / 12 = 30o. Conclusively, the difference between any two ordinates, which
represents different hours on the clock, will have an angle of 30 o. Between any two
ordinates (hours) on the clock, there are mini five intervals, each representing a
minute on the clock. This means that, for the total angle between any two ordinates
(representing two hours on the clock) equal to 30 O, the number of five mini intervals
(representing minutes), each minute interval will be equal to 30 0/5 = 6o. To briefly
summarize what we have discussed so far, the clock has twelve ordinates arranged
in a circular manner, constituting twelve intervals, with each representing an hour
on the clock. Between any two ordinates which represent an hour are 5 mini
intervals with each representing a minute. The total angle in a circular clock is 360 o,
therefore with twelve ordinates, each representing an hour, each will have an angle
equal to 30o as well as each minute equal to 6o.

In this paper, we shall attempt to use the basis as described above together with a
proposed theory to efficiently compute the smallest angle between the hands of the
clock at any given time on the clock.

Lets take time to apply knowledge we have acquired in the above discussion to
analyze how to compute the angle between the hour and minute hand on the clock
when the time now is 6:15;

We begin by computing the angle of the hour and minute hand on the clock with an
initial assumption that the hands on the clock are lying exactly on the said hour and
minute as stated in the time given above. With the time stated above, the hour
hand is definitely on the 6th ordinate and the minute hand on the 15 th minute
represented by the 3rd ordinate on the clock.

In order to be able to compute the angle between the hour and minute hand, we will
have to take a look at the following procedures;
 Compute the amount of minutes between the minute and hour hands of the
clock.
Consequently multiplying the number of minutes by 6 o (which represent the
angle of a minute on the clock) in order to have the total angle between the
hour and minute hand.
However, we can only assume that the hour and minute hands are exactly on
the hours and minutes as stated in a given time description. For example,
with the time 6:15, the minute hand is definitely on the 15 th minute, but the
hour hand is not exactly on the 6th ordinate because the hour hand is on its
way to the 7th ordinate since the time stated is 6:15.
The hour and minute hand must have an equation in terms of their
movement in relation to one another. The minute hand must move from the
1st to 60th minute and within this period, the hour hand must have moved
through 30o angle, which is from one ordinate to another. Therefore, for every
60 minutes the minute hand moves, the hour hand moves through 30 o. Thus,
given the time above 6:15, the minute hand will have moved through 15
minutes, thus the hour hand must have moved through 60 minutes =
30o
15 minutes = ??
?? = 15 x 30 = 7.5o
60
From our analysis, the hour hand will always move in degrees, half of the
minutes on the clock at any particular time. Therefore, when the time is 3:45,
the hour hand will move in degrees, about 22.5 o since this is half of the
minutes (45 minutes) on the clock at the time given o 3:45.

Now that we have established the number of degrees the hour hand moves in
relation to the value on the minute hand, we will propose a theory which will
enable us finally compute the angle between the hour and minute hand.

When a particular time is given, for example the one shown above
6:15, we will first have to change the hour hand into its corresponding
minutes. Since 6th ordinate on the clock represents 30 minutes, the
new time will now be 30:15.
NB: A little background as to how the various ordinates represent the
said minutes. Between any two ordinates which represent an hour on
the clock, consists of five intervals, each representing minutes. Thus,
to convert an hour which could be thought of as the equivalent to five
minutes, the first ordinate will have to be multiplied by 5 in order to
get corresponding minutes of 5 minutes, same as 2 nd ordinate = 10
minutes, 3rd ordinate = 15 minutes, 4th ordinate = 30 minutes, 5th
ordinate = 25 minutes, etc.
 We proceed to computing the difference in minutes in the new time
representation above. We have 30- 15 = 15 minutes. This shows the
number of minutes between the hour and minute hands on the clock at
the said time.
We compute the total angle between the hour and minute hand by
multiplying the minute difference by the value of each minute (which
we originally computed as 6o). This results in a total angle of 15
minutes x 6O = 90o.
With all of these discussions through to computing the total angle
between the hands of the clock, we have assumed that the hour hand
is exactly on the ordinate as stipulated in the time given. However, the
hour hand is always moved slightly away from said ordinate in the
given time, so how can we account for whether the already computed
total angle between the hour and minute hand of the clock without
considering the skewing of the hour hand away from the said ordinate
will either reduce or increase when we consider the angle the hour
hand moves by virtue of the number of minutes moved by the minute
hand. We shall propose a theory to help us compute the accurate angle
between the hands of the clock factoring the deviation of the hour
hand.

A.Y Theory: When the ordinate value on the hour hand is converted
into minutes and the left hand side exceeds the right hand side of the
new time A: B, where A & B are the representation of the newly
converted hour hand into minutes and the value of the minute hand
respectively, then we add the value angle of the skewed hour hand
away from the said ordinate to the total angle derived from the product
of the difference in minutes and the value of each minute with the
initial assumption that the hour hand Iies on the said ordinate on the
clock, otherwise we subtract.
This theory basically enables us to accurately compute the angle
between the hands of the clock by the firstly computing the total angle
between the hands of the clock, assuming that the hour hand is
exactly on the said ordinate and then proceeding to either add or
subtract the degree value of the movement of the hour hand due to
the number of minutes moved by the minutes hand.
The main idea behind the proposed theory is that, anything the hour
hand on the clock is converted into minutes and the value is larger
than the minute hand value, it is indicative that the hour hand is
leading the minute hand and so there is a slight extension the hour
hand away from the said ordinate, resulting in our addition of the
skewed hour hand angle to the total angle originally computed,
otherwise we subtract the skewed hour hand angle from the total
angle, when the newly converted hour hand into minutes is lesser in
value compared to the minute hand value.
After the said computation, we ensure that the angle derived isnt
more than 180o. If the angle computed is more than 180o, we subtract
the value from 360o to get the true value of the angle between the
hands of the clock.
Lets go back to the earlier time given. The time now is 6:15 and we
have established that the total angle between the hands of the clock
assuming that the hour hand is exactly on the said ordinate is 90 o.
However, the minute hand has moved 15 minutes, meaning the hour
hand will consequently move half of the said minutes in degrees, equal
to 7.5o.
From the theory discussion, we will have to consider the time given in
terms of minutes by changing the hour hand into corresponding
minutes. Thus, 6:15 becomes 30:15.

We analyze whether the left hand side (representing the hour hand)
exceeds the right hand side or vice versa so we either add or subtract
the angular value of skewed hour hand from the total angle.

We can see from 30:15 that the left hand side is larger compared to
the right hand side, thus we have the angular value of skewed hour
hand to the total angle to have 90 o + 7.5o = 97.5o. When this
understanding is complete, computation of the total angle between the
hands of the clock will be very easy even with just the mind, no need
for a book, pen or calculator.

Try out a couple of examples on computing the angle between the

hands of the clock when the times are; 7:32, 1:50, 3:16.

Acknowledgement:

Special thanks to my partner and co-founder of Rikalla Learning &

Research, Jerry Agudogo for his support and encouragement, Daisy
Nana Ama Kyeremanteng for reading through the work and
recommending vital changes as well as Anita Kwansema Bonney for
her constant motivation throughout the course of this project.
For answers to this and many other thought experiments, such a new
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