Here is a little brainteaser for you. Imagine it is 12 o'clock. But your watch says it is 12:05. Is it going slow or fast?
Q: What time is it?
A: Hammer Time! ;D
LOL!
But seriously, it's slow, because the time is 12:00 PM, while the watch says 12:05 AM, because it died hours ago.
No, the watch is really wrong by only five minutes. So is it the watch early or late?
It's five minutes fast, because it's ahead of what the real time is.
Yes, it's fast, because the hands are moving faster than they should.
Ah.
I thought this was going to be a trick question.
Hence why I posted that complicated bit.
Quote from: surhotchaperchlorome on July 19, 2009, 10:27:24 PM
It's five minutes fast, because it's ahead of what the real time is.
Quote from: MrBogosity on July 19, 2009, 11:27:14 PM
Yes, it's fast, because the hands are moving faster than they should.
So if the watch is fast, you could also say that it is five minutes early, yes?
Quote from: Tom S. Fox on July 18, 2009, 09:23:27 PM
Here is a little brainteaser for you. Imagine it is 12 o'clock. But your watch says it is 12:05. Is it going slow or fast?
All it says is that your watch needs fixing.
Quote from: Tom S. Fox on July 20, 2009, 05:38:09 AM
So if the watch is fast, you could also say that it is five minutes early, yes?
Yes, it's early, or ahead.
Quote from: MrBogosity on July 21, 2009, 06:56:50 PM
Yes, it's early, or ahead.
Ah, but how could it be
early when it displays a time
later than the actual time?
Because it reached the proper time early. It made it to 10:00 five minutes early.
And yet, many people would say that the watch is late.
I actually started the thread because of this blog entry (http://skullturf.blogspot.com/2007/10/clocks-are-running-late.html).
I don't know how there's any context at all where a clock that is set AFTER the current time can be said to be LATE!
If you arrive for a 10:00 appointment before 10:00, you're early. Arrive after, and you're late.
If your watch is five minutes fast, and you don't realize it, and you get there when you think it's 10:00, you're early.
Therefore, the watch arrived at 10:00 before it was actually 10:00. Therefore, it's early!
Well, because the time that the clock displays is too late.