What time is it?

[CrAz3D]

http://www.signals.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?randomizer=309907135&action=detail&item=HB9362

[Sidoh]

14:23, 2:23 PM

[Ergot]

First off, they forgot 2^0 in the description. Second of all, I'm guessing you read it as top = hour and bottom = minute, but that would mean the maximum number on the hours would be 15 (8+4+2+1) but there's 24 hours in a day. Unless of course, your interpretation is incorrect (it would be 13 btw or if you make the first place 2 then there would be no odd hours)/the lights are only for demonstration. So then it would display time in the twelve hour format. The bottom seems right though.

Edit: Ok... if it was read left to right... it would be 11:58, which would make sense.

[Sidoh]

First off, they forgot 2^0 in the description. Second of all, I'm guessing you read it as top = hour and bottom = minute, but that would mean the maximum number on the hours would be 15 (8+4+2+1) but there's 24 hours in a day. Unless of course, your interpretation is incorrect (it would be 13 btw or if you make the first place 2 then there would be no odd hours)/the lights are only for demonstration. So then it would display time in the twelve hour format. The bottom seems right though.

I (pathetically) added the top digits incorrectly.  I know how to read binary.

It gives you the ambiguous time of "1:23" and assumes that you'll be able to infer the AM or PM from intuition.

By the way, I incorrectly assumed that the right most bit represented 2^0, which is why my answer is completely wrong.  It's a little-endian display... :(

[MyndFyre]

By the way, I incorrectly assumed that the right most bit represented 2^0, which is why my answer is completely wrong.  It's a little-endian display... :(

Endianness refers to byte order, not bit order.  The least-significant byte is typically on the right.... and you *correctly* assumed that the right-most bit was the least-significant - 2^0 *is* 1.  Your original answer wasn't completely wrong... although it's unclear to me why it would have only four digits for the hour.  You can make it to 15, and the watch is lit to 13.   :o

[Ergot]

x86] link=topic=8014.msg100748#msg100748 date=1164702180]

By the way, I incorrectly assumed that the right most bit represented 2^0, which is why my answer is completely wrong.  It's a little-endian display... :(

Endianness refers to byte order, not bit order.  The least-significant byte is typically on the right.... and you *correctly* assumed that the right-most bit was the least-significant - 2^0 *is* 1.  Your original answer wasn't completely wrong... although it's unclear to me why it would have only four digits for the hour.  You can make it to 15, and the watch is lit to 13.   :o

Read two posts up.

[Sidoh]

x86] link=topic=8014.msg100748#msg100748 date=1164702180]
Endianness refers to byte order, not bit order.  The least-significant byte is typically on the right.... and you *correctly* assumed that the right-most bit was the least-significant - 2^0 *is* 1.  Your original answer wasn't completely wrong... although it's unclear to me why it would have only four digits for the hour.  You can make it to 15, and the watch is lit to 13.   :o

I'm aware that 2^0 is usually on the right; that's why I originally made the assumption.  I said that I was incorrect because I would expect the watch to relapse to the hour 1 after 12 since it is incapable of displaying anything over 15.  I don't know of a way of expressing time that includes a 15th hour but not a 16th-23rd hour.

As Ergot said, reading it in the less conventional way yields a more sensible answer and doesn't lead me to believe that the watch is incapable of expressing 8 hours of the day without much confusion.

The endianness reference was more of an attempt at a humorous colloquial comment than an effort to choose fancy vocabulary.

[rabbit]

It could go from 15 to 4?

[disco]

A.K.A. babe magnet.

[Sidoh]

It could go from 15 to 4?

That would be even more useless than 15-8.

[AntiVirus]

That's pretty neat. 

[Sidoh]

I forgot to mention: I used to have a "wall clock" that worked like this.  It was a solder kit, though.