Question:medium

A watch which gains uniformly is 2 minutes slow at 10:00 AM on Monday and is \(2\frac 12\) minutes fast at 1:00 PM the following day. When did it show the correct time ?

Updated On: Nov 25, 2025
  • 10:30 PM Tuesday
  • 10:30 PM Monday
  • 10:45 PM Monday
  • 10:00 PM Monday
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

The watch's gain is consistent, adding the same amount of time each hour. We are given:

  • At 10:00 AM on Monday, the watch is 2 minutes slow.
  • At 1:00 PM on Tuesday, the watch is 2.5 minutes fast.

The elapsed time between 10:00 AM on Monday and 1:00 PM on Tuesday is 1 day and 3 hours, which equals 27 hours. During this period, the watch gains 4.5 minutes (from 2 minutes slow to 2.5 minutes fast).

The gain rate is calculated by dividing total gain by total time:

Rate of gain \(= \frac{4.5 \text{ minutes}}{27 \text{ hours}} = \frac{1}{6} \text{ minutes per hour}.\)

To find when the watch showed the accurate time, consider that it was 2 minutes slow at 10:00 AM on Monday. We need to determine when it gained those 2 minutes. The time to gain 2 minutes is:

Time taken to gain 2 minutes \(= \frac{2 \text{ minutes}}{\frac{1}{6} \text{ minutes per hour}} = 12 \text{ hours}.\)

Starting at 10:00 AM on Monday, adding 12 hours results in 10:00 PM on Monday, when the watch displayed the correct time.

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