Explanation:

The minute hand angle is the easiest since an hour (i.e. 60 minutes) corresponds to the entire 360 degrees,

each minute must correspond to 6 degrees.

So just multiply the number of minutes in the time by 6 to get the number of degrees for the minute hand.
Here 15 minutes corresponds to 15 x 6 = 90 degrees

Next, you have to figure out the angle of the hour hand.

Since there are 12 hours in the entire 360 degrees, each hour corresponds to 30 degrees.

But unless the time is EXACTLY something o'clock, you have to write the time as a fractional number of hours rather than as hours and minutes.
Here the time is 9:15 which is (9 + 15/60) = 37/4 hours.

Since each hour corresponds to 30 degrees, we multiply 30 to get (37/4)(30) = 277.5 degrees.

Since the hour hand is at 277.5 degrees and the minute hand is at 90 degrees,

we can subtract to get the angle of separation. 277.5 - 90 = 187.5 =~ 360 - 187.5 = 172.5 degrees.

Hence, option 2 is the correct answer.