I have a clock at home that chimes on every hour and half hour mark. On whole hour marks it chimes once for each hour, and on half hour marks it chimes only once.

One night I was wakened suddenly and realized the the clock had chimed, but I did not know how many times. As I lay awake thinking about nothing in particular I heard the clock chime once and started wondering what time it was.

What is the longest amount of time I would have to lie awake before I knew for sure what time it was?

(In reply to 1/2 hour by Goldwing)

What if you are hearing the one chime for 12:30? Then you would hear one chime for 1:00 and, by your logic, think that it was 1:30. You have to wait an hour in this scenario to know if you woke up at 12:30 (where you would hear 3 single chimes in succession) or at 1:00 (where you would hear 2 single chimes and a double chime).

So, to know for sure, you have to wait one hour.

Posted by SeaCalMaster on 2006-02-09 00:20:26