This month we switch back to a more quantitative brain teaser. It’s also typical of the type of question one sees on the GMAT and GRE, for reasons that we explain in the answer explanation. Are you up for the challenge?
When a clock is at 3:15, what is the separation in degrees between the hour hand and the minute hand?
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Answer:
7.5 degrees. When the time is 3:15, the minute hand is on the 3, but the hour hand is 1⁄4 of the way between the 3 and the 4. And since there are 30 degrees (360/12) between each number on a clock, 1⁄4 of 30 is 7.5. So the hour and minute hands would be separated by 7.5 degrees.