The minute hand and the second hand of a clock make a straight line with each other 118 times in one day.
To understand why, let’s break it down. The second hand completes one full revolution every 60 seconds, while the minute hand takes 60 minutes for one complete cycle. Because the second hand revolves much faster, it overtakes the minute hand several times within an hour.
In one hour, the two hands align straight (180 degrees apart) a specific number of times. In fact, they meet in a straight line 11 times within a 60-minute period. Over the course of a 12-hour period, this totals to 22 alignments. Since there are 24 hours in a day, we multiply 22 by 2, leading to a total of 44 straight-line alignments in 24 hours. Therefore, they align straight in both directions, which leads to 44 + 44 = 88. However, every time they make a straight line they can also be on the opposite side as well, which increases the count to 118 times.
This might seem a bit puzzling at first, but when you visualize the movement of both hands, it becomes clear how frequently they coincide at these positions.