Why are hours and minutes separated by colons?

Question

I was just wondering...like five o'clock would be 5:00. Why not 5;00 or 5.00 or 5|00?

Answer 1

It's so we can communicate and understand what the person is talking about. If I seen 5.00 ...I would think it's $5.00, and if I seen 5/00 I would think it's a math problem 5 over 00.