• ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    Lots of people know a broken clock is right twice per day, but many are unaware that a clock running backwards is right 4 times per day.

    • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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      11 hours ago

      a clock running backwards is moving away from the current time at twice the rate, so isn’t your example the same as saying that a clock that runs twice as fast is right 4 times a day?

      • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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        9 hours ago

        No, if you go twice as fast, it would only align with one at 12 and one at 24. It’s not about speed, it’s about the intersections of forward and backward laps.

          • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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            4 hours ago

            You can picture a clock or a track. If you have one going forward and one backwards, they meet at the halfway point (6), and again at the full lap (12). This happens twice in a day.

            If you have one going twice as fast, they only meet when the faster one laps the slower one. The two clocks would be at 3&6, 6&12, 9&6(18), 12&12(24)