How Many Times the Hands of an Analogue Clock Overlap With Each Other In 12 Hours

In a timely episode of Numberphile, astronomer Cliff Stole excitedly explained how often the hands of an analogue clock overlap one another during the course of 12 hours. The answer is not as obvious as one would originally think.

There’s a simple way to solve it let’s go back to noon how many times do these hands cross in 12 hours well there’s once twice three times and so on in fact think about it you’ll realize the hands cross each other 11 times every 12 hours.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.