Can anyone do this math question?

Question

It is hard and boggling my mind, can anyone do it., but I want an explanation to ge the answer----but an answer as well.

It is the following:

What is the samllest possible angle between hands of a clock at x minutes after y o'clock?


THANKS!

Answer 1

It would be 6 degrees seeing as there are 60 possible angles, 60 minutes in a hour. in example, 1:06, 2:11, 3:16

Answer 2

it depends on if it is a sweeping clock suck as a rolex. or a ticking clock. Some clocks sweep meaning the minute hand moves very slowly as the seconds pass moving one minute every 60 seconds. Other clocks only tick meaning that the minute hand only moves one minute every 60 seconds so it only has 60 different positions.

If it is a sweeping clock then the smallest angle is 0 or >0. it would be an irrational infintely small number. meaning that no matter what it was it could be smaller.

If it is a ticking clock then it would be 0. Or if it cannot be on the hour it would be 6 degrees. Because the whole clock is 360 around. and there are 60 minutes. So at 1 minute past the hour it would be 1/60 of 360 degrees. which is 6.

if x=y then the answer is 0. if x =/= y then the answer cannot be 0

Answer 3

every minute marker(1/60th of an hour) is equal to 360/60 = 6 degrees
every hour marker (1/12 of an hour) is equal to 360/12 = 30 degrees

smallest possible woudl be 1 minutes after 12
1 * 6 degrees different from 12 * 30 degrees
6 degrees from 360/0

for a small angle the minute and the hour hand woudl need to be next to the same marker on the clock face, 12:01 has hands much closer than, say, 5:59
59 minutes after 5
59 * 6 degrees different to 5 * 30degrees
354 degrees to 150 = a difference of 204 degrees (or 154 if you went the other way)

Answer 4

0 because no matterwhat it is the smallest angle possible so it has to be the smallest possible

Answer 5

As small as you like.