Why is it that we count time 12 a.m. - 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. - 11 p.m.?

Question

That counts 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 which isn't in order.


Doesn't it make far more sense to count time from 1 a.m. - 12 a.m. and 1 p.m. - 12 p.m.?

This counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 which is in order.

Any logic behind why we don't count time from 1-12?

"There is no such time as '12am' or '12pm'. It can only be '12 noon' or '12 midnight'.

Think about it."

Yes, but thats not the setup we have for telling time. You are right in a sense, I'm going by logic though.

Which even with what you have stated, there still is no logic as to why we count 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Why not just do 1-12 or even 0-11? lol

Counting 12-11 is like some sort of perverted backwards counting.

"Now, the truth is, there is no 12 AM and 12 PM. One of them is noon and the other is midnight. This is because, technically speaking, noon at any point on the globe is when the sun is falling directly on the meridian that runs through that point. Midnight is when it is directly opposite that meridian.

Noon and midnight are at exactly at the point where AM switches to PM and PM switches to AM there is really no AM and PM.

Then man developed digital clocks. These devices work on a binary system. A binary system allows for only two possibilities. Yes and no, true and false, one and zero (the binary code that runs your computer)."

I like your answer, but it still doesn't fully answer what I'm saying. Regular mundane clocks that tick tock were around before digital clocks, so that part is void. I do agree with there being no a.m. or p.m. I do agree with, those are more for helping us read time. Since that is true, why didn't they just do 0-11, or make 12 midnight/afternoon a.p.m

"AM/PM times are confusing and stupid. It should be 1 to 24, just because there are 24 hours in a day and not 12. Its like folding the day in half or having twice as many days in a year, being 360 x 2 or 720 days.
Its crazy man, and most people are signed up for this nonsense of time telling.
I say that the 24 hour method is simpler, avoids confusion and superior."

I agree, which is partially why I made this question. Still, I'm curious as to why the creation of 12 a.m. - 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. - 11 p.m. were thought of as a great idea.

This is probably unanswerable since so far it seems completely illogical.

Answer 1

There is no such time as '12am' or '12pm'. It can only be '12 noon' or '12 midnight'.

Think about it.

Answer 2

AM/PM times are confusing and stupid. It should be 1 to 24, just because there are 24 hours in a day and not 12. Its like folding the day in half or having twice as many days in a year, being 360 x 2 or 720 days.
Its crazy man, and most people are signed up for this nonsense of time telling. Instead of going from 11, 12, 1...it should be 11, 12, 13... etc.
I say that the 24 hour method is simpler, avoids confusion and superior.

Answer 3

First you need to understand what AM and PM mean,

AM means ante meridian (before the meridian). PM means post meridian (after the meridian). Meridian is another name longitude line. Longitude lines are the imaginary lines on the globe that run from the North Pole to the South Pole.

Now, the truth is, there is no 12 AM and 12 PM. One of them is noon and the other is midnight. This is because, technically speaking, noon at any point on the globe is when the sun is falling directly on the meridian that runs through that point. Midnight is when it is directly opposite that meridian.

Noon and midnight are at exactly at the point where AM switches to PM and PM switches to AM there is really no AM and PM.

Then man developed digital clocks. These devices work on a binary system. A binary system allows for only two possibilities. Yes and no, true and false, one and zero (the binary code that runs your computer).

A binary system cannot allow for anything that is not one of two possibilities, so there was no way it could handle noon and midnight.

So, man randomly assigned one of them to be AM and the other to be PM. I guess they made midnight AM because the next minute , 12:01 AM, is before (ante) the meridian, and noon is PM because the next minute, 12:01 PM, is after (post) the meridian.

Many Europeans use 24-hour time to avoid this confusion. Also, plane, train, and bus schedules; hospitals, police, and emergency services; and in some countries, even the TV guides, use 24-hour time.

To convert 24-hour time to 12-hour time, just subtract 12 from any time over 12:59. To go from 12-hour to 24-hour, add 12 to anything after 12:59 PM and take off the PM.

This is your best answer, trust me.

Answer 4

I have no idea. Is 12 noon a.m. or p.m. and is 12 midnight a.m. or p.m. When you count time past 12 it's really seconds and minutes after 12 and the correct way of describing it would be 0:16.33 for 16 minutes, 33 seconds. I prefer military time which is based on a 24 hour clock.