When are clock hands at right angles?

Published , last checked . Re-solved cold against the published wording before it went live: how puzzles and answers are checked.

How many times do the hour and minute hands form a right angle between noon and midnight? From the free puzzle set on Think Fanny. Next try Odd one out: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13.

Think Fanny math brain teaser equations on a blackboard

The puzzle

Between 12:00 and 24:00, how many times do the hour hand and the minute hand form a perfect right angle (90 degrees)?

Count carefully. The obvious answer is wrong.

Check the clock maths yourself

The count of 22 is a known result rather than our arithmetic, so here is where to verify it and where the mechanism behind it is explained:

If one of these contradicts the answer above, we would rather hear it than not. See how puzzles and answers are checked.