Problem of the Day
A new programming or logic puzzle every Mon-Fri

Today's problem comes to us from /u/newbie12q. Thanks for the submission!

Create a function that takes in an hour and a minute input and finds the angle between the two hands. For example:

findAngle(12, 30)
> 165

Comments:

• Anonymous - 10 years, 4 months ago

  I think you should put the angle is in degrees
  /u/newbie12q

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• Johnathan - 10 years, 4 months ago

  It needs more error checking or explaining, but values like 5:15 or 05:15 both work and that's enough for me.

  def clockangle(h, m):
      hour = (60*h + m)/2
      minute = 6*m
  
      angle = abs(hour - minute)
      return angle
  
  x = raw_input('Please enter the time: ')
  
  h = float(x[:-3])
  if len(x) == 5:
      m = float(x[3:])
  elif len (x) == 4:
      m = float(x[2:])
  
  print "The angle between the two clock hands at", x, "would be", clockangle(h, m), "degrees."
  raw_input('')
  

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• Anonymous - 10 years, 4 months ago

  ''' /** * ClockAngle.java * Calculates the angle between the hands of an * analogue clock given the value of the hour and * minute hands */

  import java.util.Scanner;

  public class ClockAngle{

  private static final int DEGREES = 360;
  private static final int HOURS = 12;
  private static final int MINUTES = 60;
  
  public static void main(String [] args){
  int hour, minute;
  Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
  System.out.println("Please enter the hour and minute: ");
  hour = sc.nextInt();
  minute = sc.nextInt();
  if(hour > 12 || hour < 1){
      System.out.println("Error: hour must be between 1 and 12");
      System.exit(0);
  }
  if(minute > 59 || minute < 0){
      System.out.println("Error: minute must be between 0 and 59");
      System.exit(0);
  }
  System.out.println("The hands are " + findAngle(hour, minute) + " degrees apart");
  }
  
  public static int findAngle(int hr, int min){
  int hrdeg = (DEGREES / HOURS) * hr;
  int mindeg = (DEGREES / MINUTES) * min;
  int angle;
  
  if(hr == 12){
      hrdeg = 0;
  }
  if(min == 0){
      mindeg = 0;
  }
  
  if(hrdeg < mindeg){
      angle = hrdeg + mindeg;
      if(angle > DEGREES / 2){
      angle = DEGREES - angle;
      }
  }
  else{
      angle = hrdeg - mindeg;
      if(angle > DEGREES / 2){
      angle = DEGREES - (hrdeg - mindeg);
      }
  }
  return angle;
  }
  

  } '''

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• jedrek - 10 years, 3 months ago

  Am I out of it, but shouldn't the example be 180?

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• Johnathan - 10 years, 3 months ago

  No, because the hour hand is only on the 12 at exactly 12:00. at 12:30 the hour hand is halfway between the 12 and the 1.

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• Anonymous - 10 years, 3 months ago

  /**
   * ClockAngle.java
   * Calculates the angle between the hands of an
   * analogue clock given the value of the hour and
   * minute hands
   */
  
  import java.util.Scanner;
  
  public class ClockAngle{
  
      private static final int DEGREES = 360;
      private static final int HOURS = 12;
      private static final int MINUTES = 60;
  
      public static void main(String [] args){
      int hour, minute;
      Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
      System.out.println("Please enter the hour and minute: ");
      hour = sc.nextInt();
      minute = sc.nextInt();
      if(hour > 12 || hour < 1){
          System.out.println("Error: hour must be between 1 and 12");
          System.exit(0);
      }
      if(minute > 59 || minute < 0){
          System.out.println("Error: minute must be between 0 and 59");
          System.exit(0);
      }
      System.out.println("The hands are " + findAngle(hour, minute) + " degrees apart");
      }
  
      public static int findAngle(int hr, int min){
      int hrdeg = (DEGREES / HOURS) * hr;
      int mindeg = (DEGREES / MINUTES) * min;
      int hrdeg2 = (min / 2);
      int angle;
  
  
      if(hr == 12){
          hrdeg = 0;
      }
      if(min == 0){
          mindeg = 0;
      }
  
      if(hrdeg < mindeg){
          angle = hrdeg + mindeg + hrdeg2;
          if(angle > DEGREES / 2){
          angle = DEGREES - angle;
          }
      }
      else{
          angle = hrdeg - mindeg - hrdeg2;
          if(angle > DEGREES / 2){
          angle = DEGREES - (hrdeg - mindeg);
          }
      }
      return angle;
      }
  }
  

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