OpenOlympiad
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Angles on a clock

A clock face is a circle (360°) divided into 12 hours. So:

  • Between consecutive hour marks = 360° / 12 = 30°
  • Minute hand moves 360° in 60 min → 6° per minute
  • Hour hand moves 30° in 60 min → 0.5° per minute

To find the angle between hands at a given time:

  1. Hour-hand position from 12 (in degrees) = 30 × hour + 0.5 × minutes
  2. Minute-hand position from 12 = 6 × minutes
  3. Angle = |difference|. If > 180°, subtract from 360° for smaller angle.
Example
At 3:00 → Hour at 90°, Minute at 0° → 90°.
At 6:30 → Hour at 180° + 15° = 195°; Minute at 180° → 15°.
At 9:00 → angle = 90° (but reflex = 270°).
💡 Tip:Hour hand doesn't jump — it gently glides between hour marks as minutes pass.
Prefer a video? Open YouTube search for “clock angle problems class 6

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5 questions to check what you just read.

0 / 5
  1. Q1.Angle between clock hands at 3:00:
  2. Q2.Angle between hands at 6:00:
  3. Q3.Minute hand moves ___ degrees in 1 minute:
  4. Q4.Hour hand moves ___ degrees in 1 minute:
  5. Q5.Angle between consecutive hour marks: