How to read binary clock?

It is actually very simple.

First a look at the digits in a digital clock, you see:

1,2,4 and 8.

Those are used for the Hour.

And below them, you see the digits:

1,2,4,8,16 and 32.

Those are used for the minutes.

It looks like this:

It is a bit confusing to people that do not understand the basics of binary mathematics. Now we press the light button and see, what the time is:

If you are still confused, keep reading.

We have 2 for hours. This definitely means 2 o’clock. Okay, but …What about the minutes?

It is very simple. Just use addition. 32+16+8+1 = 57.

So this binary clock says 02:57.

Here are some more binary clock understanding examples:

• [07:20] will be 4+2+1 for hour and 16+4 for minutes.
• [08:30] will be 8 for hour and 16+8+4+2 for minutes.
• [12:25] will be 8+4 for hour and 16+8+1 for minutes.

Got it already?

Binary clocks are one very nerdy accessory I suggest you get for yourself. Lots of people will pay attention to your clock and then ask you “What time Is it?” just to ask you to explain later the basic concepts of binary and why the hell it should be on your clock 😀

And if you are IT or mathematician, you will spot 2 interesting trivial things.

1. You can never see lit all LEDs  (32+16+8+4+2+1) for minutes, because it equals 64
2. This clock is not designed for 24 h, because it can at most show 8+4+2+1 = 15 hours.

I hope this short article helped you a bit 😉