FILE No.56Unsolved
A customer, Sawyer, was sitting in front of the mirror at a barber shop. In the mirror he could see the round analog clock on the wall behind him. Looking at the reflection, he later told the police, "The clock read exactly 8:20."
At that moment a theft took place outside. The police want to use Sawyer's statement as the real time. But a mirror reverses left and right.
The clock has a 12-hour face with just an hour hand and a minute hand.
If the mirrored clock reads 8:20, what is the real time?
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
What does a mirror do to left and right?
What do the real time and the mirrored time add up to?
Try subtracting 8:20 from 12:00.
If the mirrored clock reads 8:20, what is the real time?
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
3:40
The answer is 3:40.
A mirror reverses left and right. If the real time is T and the mirrored time is M, then T + M = 12 hours. With M = 8:20, T = 12:00 - 8:20 = 3:40.
Check the hands: at a real 3:40 the minute hand points at 8 and the hour hand sits just short of the 4. Mirrored, the minute hand points at 4 (20 minutes) and the hour hand sits just past the 8, which looks like 8:20.
Most people read the mirrored hands exactly as they appear.
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