Clocks - Quant/Math - CAT 2011

Question 4 the day: February 27, 2003

The CAT Practice question for the day is from the topic Clocks. Question: 1.The time in a clock is 20 minute past 2. Find the angle between the hands of the clock. (1) 60 degrees (2) 120 degrees (3) 45 degrees (4) 50 degrees Correct choice (4). Correct Answer - 50 degrees Solution: Time is 2:20. Position of the hands: Hour hand at 2 (nearly). Minute hand at 4 Angle between 2 and 4 is 60 degrees [(360/12) * (4-2)] Angle made by the hour hand in 20 minutes is 10 degrees, since it turns through degrees in a minute. Therefore, angle between the hands is 60 degrees - 10 degrees = 50 degrees The CAT Practice question for the day is from the topic Calenders. Question: 2.Given that on 27th February 2003 is Thursday. What was the day on 27th February 1603? (1) Monday (2) Thursday (3) Sunday (4) Tuesday Correct choice (2). Correct Answer - Thursday Solution:

After every 400 years, the same day occurs. Thus, if 27th February 2003 is Thursday, before 400 years i.e., on 27th February 1603 has to be Thursda 3. The CAT Practice question for the day is from the topic Clocks. Question: How often between 11 O'clock and 12 O'clock are the hands of the clock together at an integral number value? (1) 55 (2) 56 (3) 4 (4) 5 Correct choice (4). Correct Answer - 5 Solution: At 11 O'clock, the hour hand is 5 spaces apart from the minute hand. During the next 60 minutes, i.e. between 11' O clock and 12' O clock the hour hand will move five spaces [integral values as denoted by the 56 minute, 57 minute, 58 minute, 59 minute and 60 minute positions]. For each of these 5 positions, the minute hand will be at the 12th minute, 24th minute, 36th minute, 48th minute and 60th minute positions. Hence the difference between the positions of the hour hand and the minute hand will have an integral number of minutes between them. i.e. 5 positions. 4. The CAT Practice question for the day is from the topic Clocks. Question: A clock loses 1% time during the first week and then gains 2% time during the next one week. If the clock was set right at 12 noon on a Sunday, what will be the time that the clock will show exactly 14 days from the time it was set right?

(1) 1: 36: 48 (2) 1: 40: 48 (3) 1: 41: 24 (4) 10: 19: 12 Correct choice (2). Correct Answer - 1: 40: 48 Solution: The clock loses 1% time during the first week. In a day there are 24 hours and in a week there are 7 days. Therefore, there are 7 * 24 = 168 hours in a week. If the clock loses 1% time during the first week, then it will show a time which is 1% of 168 hours less than 12 Noon at the end of the first week = 1.68 hours less. Subsequently, the clock gains 2% during the next week. The second week has 168 hours and the clock gains 2% time = 2% of 168 hours = 3.36 hours more than the actual time. As it lost 1.68 hours during the first week and then gained 3.36 hours during the next week, the net result will be a -1.68 + 3.36 = 1.68 hour net gain in time. So the clock will show a time which is 1.68 hours more than 12 Noon two weeks from the time it was set right. 1.68 hours = 1 hour and 40.8 minutes = 1 hour + 40 minutes + 48 seconds. i.e. 1 : 40 : 48 P.M. 5. At how many points between 10 O'clock and 11 O'clock are the minute hand and hour hand of a clock at an angle of 30 degrees to each other? (1) 2 (2) 4 (3) 1 (4) 3 Correct choice (3). Correct Answer - 1

Solution: Between 10 and 11, the minute hand and hour hand are at an angle of 30 o to each at minutes past 10 = minutes past 10. The next time they will be at angle o of 30 to each other will be at 11.

6. What is the angle between the minute hand and the hour hand when the time is 1540 hours? (1) 150 (2) 160 (3) 140 (4) 130 Correct choice (4). Correct Answer - 130 Solution: The total angle made by the minute hand during an hour is 360o. If it takes 360o for an hour, it will take = 240o. The angle between the hour hand the minute hand will therefore, be somewhere between 240 - 90 = 150o, as the hour hand is between 3 and 4. The angle made by the hour hand when it moves from say 3 to 4 will be 30o. That is the hour hand makes 30o during the course of an hour.

The hour hand will therefore, move

= 20o.

Therefore, the net angle between the hour hand and the minute hand will be 150 - 20 = 130o.