Comments on: Brain Game: Hands in the Face

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:52:00 +0000

There’s no time during the 11 o’clock hour (AM or PM) that the hands touch. They do at 10:56 or so, and then again at 12:00.

That’s where the “missing two hours” come in.

By: 24Slashing

24Slashing — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:19:00 +0000

Once an hour, the minute hand will pass over the hour hand at some time during that hour. It’s 24.

By: matt

matt — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:54:00 +0000

For those who think they should match once an hour, you’re right, except that it is at the very end of the 11 o’clock hour and the very beginning of the 12 o’clock hour. Essentially the same time. So the end of one 12-hour cycle overlaps the beginning of the next, so 22.

By: bristal

bristal — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:17:00 +0000

The extra minutes are simply where the hour hand is when the minute hand is sweeping around. Explained differently; by the time the minute hand reaches the 5 on the clock (25 minutes) where you would expect the hands to overlap the hour hand has moved closer to the six, putting it right around the 27 minute mark.

By: NateJ

NateJ — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:39:00 +0000

Shouldn’t the answer be 24, since the hour hand and minute will touch every hour?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:05:00 +0000

Will report back about this time tomorrow – just started counting…

By: grant

grant — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:48:00 +0000

ahhh, i see now.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:39:00 +0000

Grant: It doesn’t take an hour between matches, but a tad longer than that — 1 and 1/11th of an hour… so by the time it’s happened 11 times in a 12-hour period, the hands are back where they were originally.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:29:00 +0000

O.k., I just got it (in partial thanks to Grant). The hands wouldn’t overlap at 11:55 and 12:00. This would make the minute hand have to zip around an hour in 5 minutes. That extra minute on the hours is really the accumulation of 2 half-minutes of the the odd hour and the even before it.

By: grant

grant — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:22:00 +0000

it’s 24 not 22. you forgot ~11:58 or 11:59. it’s once an hour so if there are 24 hrs in a day then the hands will overlap 24 times.