A watch showed a time of fourteen minutes past nine (9 hrs and 14 mins). The positions of the hour-hand and the minute-hand of the watch are exactly interchanged. The new time shown by the watch is closest to which one of the following?

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Q: 117 (IAS/2006)
A watch showed a time of fourteen minutes past nine (9 hrs and 14 mins). The positions of the hour-hand and the minute-hand of the watch are exactly interchanged. The new time shown by the watch is closest to which one of the following?

question_subject: 

Logic/Reasoning

question_exam: 

IAS

stats: 

0,4,5,1,3,4,1

keywords: 

{'minute': [0, 0, 1, 0], 'minutes': [0, 0, 1, 1], 'time': [2, 6, 15, 23], 'hour': [5, 5, 11, 12], 'hand': [2, 1, 3, 5], 'mins': [0, 0, 1, 0], 'watch': [0, 0, 3, 0], 'new time': [0, 0, 1, 0], 'positions': [0, 1, 3, 3]}

When the watch showed 9:14, the minute hand points to `2` (that is, minute 14), and the hour hand points slightly beyond `9`. If positions of the hour and minute hands are interchanged, the `2` position which was occupied by the minute hand before, is now occupied by the hour-hand and the `9+` position, previously occupied by the hour hand is now occupied by a minute hand. This interprets the time as almost `3` hour and some minutes near `45` (as 9+ is closer to `45` in minute terms).

We can not be exactly sure that it`s 45 minutes, it`s slightly less. Thus, it tells us it`s closer to option `2` (13 minutes to three) or `3` (14 minutes to three). Given the correct answer is `3` (fourteen minutes to three), we can assume it must`ve been slightly closer to 14 than to 13 minutes past the hour.

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