Liz has 2 clocks. Everyday, one clock is 20 minutes faster while the other clock is 30 minutes slower. Liz adjusts the two clocks so that they show the same time and comes back to check the clocks every 24 hours. How many days does Liz have to wait until she can see the two clocks showing the same time again?
Note: AM and PM don't matter as long as the faces of the 2 clocks are the same.
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Since one clock will be 20 minutes faster and the other clock will be 30 minutes slower on the next day, we can conclude that the time difference between the time of the clocks will increase by 50 minutes after 1 day. If you want to let the two clocks showing the same time again, the time difference should be multiple of 12 hours, which is multiple of 720 minutes. Since 720 can't be divided by 50, we take the L.C.M. of 720 and 50 which is 3600. 3 6 0 0 ÷ 5 0 = 7 2 , therefore Liz has to wait 72 days until she can see the two clocks showing the same time again.
Well, the answer should be 14 days, 9 hours and 36 minutes (or 14.4 days) because the change is continuous over time.
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I agree with Kenny Lau, Between the 14th and the 15th days Clock A will have the same time as Clock B. By the 15th day, Clock A would have gone forward 7.5 hours, and Clock B would have gone back 5 hours. Since 7.5 + 5 > 12, the clocks would have converged. The question could be worded better, "how many days Liz has to wait until she can see the two clocks showing the same time again" can be interpreted to mean the "same time" as the initial time too. That's the answer Tan Kenneth provides.
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But Liz checks only AFTER every 24 hours. If she was to check continuously it would be different.
" change is continuous over time." But the checking by Liz is only after 24 hours.
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If this can be done in n days, (1/2 - 1/3) * n=12.
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We check. First lead 1/3 * 72=24hr . Second lag 1/2 * 72=36hr
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In 72 days, the first clock showed 73 days, the second 70.5 days.
I had first worked out a long way.
First showing more by 2 hours in 6 days and second showing less by 3hr in 6 days.
Thus difference of 1 hr per 6 days. Difference of 12 hours in 72 days.
Note Liz checks after every 24 hr . And the above method is based on this logic.
Seeming contradiction is because the counting is cyclic. Some one with Number theory
may explain the reason 1/3 is not added to 1/2 but subtracted.
Our normal formula is Final - Initial.
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it should be noticed that they will show the same time after the first clock has gained 12 hours with respect to the first clock 1 day gain for first clock is 50 minutes 12 hour gain will come in 72/5 days ...but as the given condition it should be a multiple of 24 as he checks the clock after an interval of 24 hours so we have to multiply it with 5 in order to get a whole number.... so minimum number of days is 72 days ..!!!!