Time and Calendar - Reading Time to the nearest 5 minutes

The clock face is a circular dial numbered from $1$ to $12$. Between any two consecutive numbers, there are $5$ smaller minute divisions. To read the time to the nearest $5$ minutes, we count the gaps between numbers by $5s$.

The clock has two main hands: the shorter hand is the Hour Hand and the longer hand is the Minute Hand. The hour hand tells us the hour, and the minute hand tells us how many minutes have passed since that hour started.

To find the minutes, look at the number the long minute hand is pointing to and multiply that number by $5$. For example, if the minute hand points to $4$, the minutes are $4 \times 5 = 20$. Visually, you can imagine jumping around the clock: $5$ at $1$, $10$ at $2$, $15$ at $3$, and so on.

When the minute hand points to $3$, it is called Quarter Past. This represents $15$ minutes. Visually, the minute hand has moved one-fourth of the way around the clock face.

When the minute hand points to $6$, it is called Half Past. This represents $30$ minutes. At this point, the minute hand has traveled halfway around the circle, and the hour hand will be exactly halfway between two numbers.

When the minute hand points to $9$, it is called Quarter To. This represents $45$ minutes past the current hour or $15$ minutes remaining until the next hour. Visually, the minute hand has completed three-quarters of its journey around the clock.

The hour hand moves slowly as the minute hand moves. If the hour hand is between two numbers, such as $8$ and $9$, we always read the smaller number ($8$) as the hour, because it has passed $8$ but hasn't reached $9$ yet.

Time is written in the digital format as $HH:MM$. The first part ($HH$) represents the hour, and the second part ($MM$) represents the minutes. A colon ($:$) is used to separate them.