Maths Olympiad · topic 5 of 33 · free

Time and clocks — Maths Olympiad practice

Time does not work like ordinary numbers: there are 60 minutes in an hour, not 100. The easy way is to jump to a full hour first, then add or take away the minutes that are left.

How to solve it

Jump to the hour — “go to the next (or last) full hour first, then the rest of the minutes”

  1. Minutes after: jump to the next full hour, then add the minutes that are left.
  2. Minutes before: jump back to the full hour, then go back the rest.
  3. How long: change both times to minutes, take away, then change back to hours and minutes (60 minutes = 1 hour).

Use it for: Clock questions, timetables, and “how long is the film” problems.

Worked example: What time will it be 35 minutes after 3:40? 4:15

  1. From 3:40 to 4:00 is 20 minutes.
  2. 35 − 20 = 15 minutes are left: 4:00 + 15 minutes = 4:15.

Check: 4:15 back to 3:40: 15 minutes to 4:00, then 20 more to 3:40 — 35 minutes ✓

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