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Just Chat! / Re: What are the odds ?
« on: 31/01/2021 13:49:21 »
Whatever the first digit is, there's only 1 minute in each hour when the other two digits will be the same as it. (1:11 2:22 etc)
So the odds are (to a good approximation) 1 in 60 for any given glance at the clock. I'm sort of assuming that 12:12 would count too- or that you wouldn't be in bed that early :-).
So if you look at the clock a couple of times in the night, you would see the pattern of 3 digits about a dozen times a year.
It probably "feels" more common than that, because you remember the "interesting" times like 3:33 (and maybe 1:23 or 5:43) but forget the "boring" ones when it's 3:36 or whatever.
It's possible that you might also consider it "odd" to see the time as exactly on the hour- say 3:00
Or where the numbers form a sequence- like 1:23 or 6:54
So that's 4 minutes each hour- odds of 1 in 15.
Since you sleep every night, that could easily mean seeing a "peculiar" number twice a month.
So the odds are (to a good approximation) 1 in 60 for any given glance at the clock. I'm sort of assuming that 12:12 would count too- or that you wouldn't be in bed that early :-).
So if you look at the clock a couple of times in the night, you would see the pattern of 3 digits about a dozen times a year.
It probably "feels" more common than that, because you remember the "interesting" times like 3:33 (and maybe 1:23 or 5:43) but forget the "boring" ones when it's 3:36 or whatever.
It's possible that you might also consider it "odd" to see the time as exactly on the hour- say 3:00
Or where the numbers form a sequence- like 1:23 or 6:54
So that's 4 minutes each hour- odds of 1 in 15.
Since you sleep every night, that could easily mean seeing a "peculiar" number twice a month.
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