Beautiful fibonacci clock

[canavare]

_http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/may/09/fibonacci-clock-can-you-tell-the-time-on-the-worlds-most-stylish-nerd-timepiece

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Don’t you find clock faces quite aggressive, their hands and numbers constantly reminding you of the passing of the time?

If so, this beautiful invention is for you.

The Fibonacci clock lets you know the time more subtly, by changing colours and requiring you do some adding up.

The Fibonacci sequence is the sequence beginning 1, 1 and where each number is the sum of the previous two. Its first five digits are:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5

Philippe Chrétien from Montreal, Canada, noticed that these numbers are all you need to express all the numbers from 1 to 12.

1 = 1
1+1 = 2
...
1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 12
Which means that it is possible to use them to describe the twelve positions on a clock, and therefore tell the time in 5 minute intervals.

Here’s what he did. It is possible to arrange squares whose side lengths are the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence into a rectangle. (This is the famous golden rectangle - here’s a previous post about that).

The squares in his clock have side length 1, 1, 2, 3, and 5. The squares lit up in red tell you the hour, and the squares lit up in green give you the minutes (in multiples of five). A square lit up in blue means it is to be added for both hour and minute. White squares are ignored.

I’ll do the first one below: for hours, you have red 5, red 1 and blue 3. 5 + 1 + 3 = 9 o’clock. For minutes: green 2 and blue 3. 2 + 3 = 5. Then 5 x 5 = 25minutes. So, the time is 9.25.
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[Jacques]

Thanks for the info Leo.

I just love the clock.

 

[CNS]

Wow, yeah, very cool. It certainly takes a while to read them, but after a while it starts to make sense. The fibonacci clock (self-proclaimed nerd time piece) makes telling time fun! ;D

 

[Gawan]

Thank you for sharing. Before you understand the clock you may need some more time to read it correctly or you are some minutes earlier off to work than usual and just in case :).

 

[loreta]

Maybe you understand this clock because you are good in maths? For me is like Chinese. I will make an effort but I am very, very bad in maths. :(

 

[griffin]

Maybe you understand this clock because you are good in maths? For me is like Chinese. I will make an effort but I am very, very bad in maths. :(

Don't feel bad, Loreta. You're not alone (and you're probably more capable at math than you believe, just not at associating the arbitrary colors of four squares with the digital calculation of the local time).

Personally, I find this clock slightly clever but ultimately a little burdensome, and somewhat ridiculous.

Why anyone would choose to interpret 1-4 colored squares, and mentally add 1-8 numbers, simply in order to calculate the time, which can be read directly on either an analog or digital clock immediately, escapes me. However, I suppose it's a matter of taste, and for those who like it, they're welcome to it.

 

[Mark]

Maybe you understand this clock because you are good in maths? For me is like Chinese. I will make an effort but I am very, very bad in maths. :(

Don't feel bad, Loreta. You're not alone (and you're probably more capable at math than you believe, just not at associating the arbitrary colors of four squares with the digital calculation of the local time).

Personally, I find this clock slightly clever but ultimately a little burdensome, and somewhat ridiculous.

Why anyone would choose to interpret 1-4 colored squares, and mentally add 1-8 numbers, simply in order to calculate the time, which can be read directly on either an analog or digital clock immediately, escapes me. However, I suppose it's a matter of taste, and for those who like it, they're welcome to it.

Seems to me that's it not so much about time as it is about having fun with nature, art, and technology. And it's good exercise for the brain.

 

[canavare]

fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio (which is also related to fibonacci numbers) could be considered as the Nature's formula to create beauty!

Please check the beautiful video below:

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkGeOWYOFoA

about the fibonacci numbers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

about the golden ratio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio