S1Q2 · Absolute Time Difference Between Two Times¶

⚡ Quick Reference

Function: absolute_time_difference(time1: str, time2: str) -> str

Core idea: convert both times to total minutes, take the absolute difference, convert back to HH:MM.

def absolute_time_difference(time1, time2):
    def to_minutes(t):
        h, m = map(int, t.split(':'))
        return h * 60 + m

    diff = abs(to_minutes(time1) - to_minutes(time2))
    return f"{diff // 60:02}:{diff % 60:02}"

Key rules: - Convert HH:MM → total minutes: h * 60 + m - Absolute difference = abs(minutes1 - minutes2) - Convert back: hours = diff // 60, minutes = diff % 60 - Zero-pad with {val:02} to always produce two-digit output

Problem Statement¶

Problem

Write a function absolute_time_difference(time1, time2) that returns the absolute time difference between two HH:MM strings, also in HH:MM format.

Examples:

Input

time1="14:30", time2="06:45"

Output

"07:45"

Input

time1="02:30", time2="03:10"

Output

"00:40"

Input

time1="23:59", time2="00:00"

Output

"23:59"

Tracing all examples¶

time1	time2	minutes1	minutes2	diff	Result
`"14:30"`	`"06:45"`	870	405	465	465//60=7, 465%60=45 → `"07:45"` ✓
`"06:45"`	`"14:30"`	405	870	465	→ `"07:45"` ✓ (symmetric)
`"02:30"`	`"03:10"`	150	190	40	40//60=0, 40%60=40 → `"00:40"` ✓
`"23:59"`	`"00:00"`	1439	0	1439	1439//60=23, 1439%60=59 → `"23:59"` ✓

Solution approaches¶

PythonicExplanatory (named steps)Using divmodUsing lambda

def absolute_time_difference(time1, time2):
    def to_minutes(t):
        h, m = map(int, t.split(':'))
        return h * 60 + m

    diff = abs(to_minutes(time1) - to_minutes(time2))
    return f"{diff // 60:02}:{diff % 60:02}"

def absolute_time_difference(time1, time2):
    # Parse time1
    h1, m1 = map(int, time1.split(':'))
    total1  = h1 * 60 + m1

    # Parse time2
    h2, m2 = map(int, time2.split(':'))
    total2  = h2 * 60 + m2

    # Absolute difference in minutes
    diff_minutes = abs(total1 - total2)

    # Convert back to HH:MM
    hours   = diff_minutes // 60
    minutes = diff_minutes % 60

    return f"{hours:02}:{minutes:02}"

def absolute_time_difference(time1, time2):
    to_min = lambda t: int(t[:2]) * 60 + int(t[3:])
    hours, minutes = divmod(abs(to_min(time1) - to_min(time2)), 60)
    return f"{hours:02}:{minutes:02}"

divmod(diff, 60) returns (hours, minutes) in one call - cleaner than two separate // and % operations.

absolute_time_difference = lambda t1, t2: (
    lambda d: f"{d//60:02}:{d%60:02}"
)(abs(sum(int(x)*y for x,y in zip(t1.split(':'),[60,1])) -
      sum(int(x)*y for x,y in zip(t2.split(':'),[60,1]))))

Key takeaways¶

01

Convert to minutes for arithmetic, back to HH:MM for output

Time arithmetic is much simpler in a single unit (minutes). Convert both times to total minutes, subtract, take the absolute value, then reconstruct HH:MM with // 60 and % 60.

02

{val:02} - zero-pad to two digits

f"{hours:02}" pads with a leading zero if the value is a single digit. Without it, "00:40" would become "0:40" - wrong format. Always use :02 for both hours and minutes.

03

abs() makes the result order-independent

abs(total1 - total2) gives the same result regardless of which time is larger. No need to check which is earlier - the function is symmetric by design.