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What is time? How to tell the time?

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user WillowW.

Being able to tell the time is a necessary skill. Although we often use clocks on our mobile
phones or computers or digital watches, which tell us the time by showing us easy to understand
numerals, we can rely on them only as long as the is electricity needed to power them is
available. But what if there isn’t? Well, we can rely on an old-timey invention called the analog
clock, but we need to learn how.

In analog clocks, the “clock face” or the dial of clock will only show time between 1 and 12,
always in the position shown in the picture. Since the day is 24 hours long (or 2 times 12), our
day is divided into two parts: before noon or a.m. and afternoon or p.m. The analog clock has
three hands (the thin, pointy thingies of different lengths and widths). The shortest hand of the
watch shows the number of hours.

What happens when we want to find out how much time has passed since it was 11? Or how
long do we have to wait until it’s 12? For this we need to introduce the minute hand.

The second longest hand shows us the number of minutes that have passed since the last full
hour, or, in other words, since this hand was pointing directly at the number 12. There are 60
minutes in an hour, and since the clock face is divided into 12 parts, exactly 5 minutes pass
between the hand pointing at one number and the hand pointing at the next largest number. This
means that, when the minute hand is on 8, we know that 40 (8 times 5 is 40) minutes have passed
since the last full hour. So if the hour hand (the shortest one) is at 11 and the minute had is
pointing at 8, we know that it is 11:40 (a.m. or p.m.).
If we want to get even more precise, we’ll observe the longest, thinnest hand, or the “second
hand”, which shows the number of seconds that passed since the last full minute (when the
second hand was pointing at 12). In this example, the hand is pointing at the number 4. If we
multiply it by 5, we’ll get the number of seconds: 20 seconds.

This means that our watch is showing 11 hours, 40 minutes and 20 seconds.
Let’s do an example! Let’s say that it’s evening (which is p.m.) and you want to know what time
is it.

The smallest hand (or the hour hand) of this watch is between 9 and 8, which means that it’s
between 8 and 9 pm. The mid-size hand is between 4 and 5, which means we’ll multiply 4 with 5
and add the number of the little lines between the last numeral the hand has passed and the one
the hand is pointing to (including that line as well).

The longest hand (the second hand) is between 1 and 2, which means that we’ll multiply 1 by 5
and add the required number of lines. So, when we take everything into account, we can see that
the time is 8:22:07 pm.

If you’d like to practice a little bit more, please use the worksheets below.
http://www.mathemania.com/lesson/expressions/

Verbal phrases in algebraic expressions

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 Verbal phrases in algebraic expressions

An expression is a term in mathematics that describes a group of variables, numbers and

operators. Operators include division, multiplication, addition and subtraction. Variables in
expression are usually denoted as x and y, but it can be and other symbol.
The expressions can be written as verbal phrase or algebraic expression. Here are some examples
of algebraic expressions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

This algebraic expressions can be also written in verbal phrase:

1. A number x increased by 3.
2. A fourth of a number y.
3. 21 decreased by a number x.
4. 8 decreased by 2.

Note that an expression doesn’t need to include a variable to be an expression. Expressions are
used to define equations. Two expressions that are equal represent an equation. Try to solve
some examples.

Verbal phrases in algebraic expressions worksheets

Verbal expressions - sum (146.5 KiB, 2,010 hits)

Verbal expressions - difference (155.5 KiB, 1,450 hits)

Verbal expressions - product (145.3 KiB, 1,194 hits)

Verbal expressions - quotient (159.0 KiB, 1,594 hits)

Verbal expressions - square and cube (96.3 KiB, 1,806 hits)

Verbal expressions - equations (116.1 KiB, 1,526 hits)

Algebraic expressions - sum (161.8 KiB, 982 hits)

Algebraic expressions - difference (175.9 KiB, 871 hits)

Algebraic expressions - product (160.1 KiB, 944 hits)

Algebraic expressions - quotient (182.9 KiB, 921 hits)

Algebraic expressions - square and cube (151.5 KiB, 1,136 hits)