Today Puzzle #742
Puzzle No. 742鈥� Tuesday 18 May 2020
Every weekday morning you'll find me in the kitchen listening to the Today programme from 6am to 9am. Occasionally I'll look up at the wall clock, but on my clock the minute hand and the hour hand are the same length and are indistinguishable .How many instances are there during the programme that the time on my clock is ambiguous?"
Today’s #PuzzleForToday has been set by Hugh Hunt, Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration at Trinity College, Cambridge
Click here for the answer
6
These are
06:37:46 confuses with 07:33:09
06:42:48 confuses with 08:33:34
07:43:13 confuses with 08:38:36
There are 132 times in each 12 hour period that can be confused if the
hands are the same length. The time interval between these times is
720/143 minutes which can be worked out with a bit of thought. Every 13th
instance is omitted because this is when the hands are overlapping and is
therefore not ambiguous. The six listed above are the only ones where the
time and it's double both fall between 6am and 9am
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