Question

A standard clock has a 1-cm hour hand and a 2-cm minute hand. At 12 pm, they are both pointing in the same direction and the distance between the ends of the hands is 1 cm. What is the exact distance between the ends of the hands at 2 pm

Answer 1

Answer:

The distance between the hands is √(3)cm ≈ 1.73cm.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a standard clock, the angle between every number is 30°, therefore the angle between 12 and 2 will be 30° x 2 = 60°.

Looking at the diagram, to find c we can make use of our cosine formula

c² = a² + b² –2abCos(C°)

a = 2, b = 1 and C° = 60°

Therefore we have:

c² = 2² + 1² –2 x 2 x 1 x cos(60°) =

c² = 4 + 1 – 4 x 0.5 =

c² = 5 – 2 =

c² = 3

c = √(3) ≈ 1.73

Therefore, the distance between the hands is √(3)cm ≈ 1.73cm.