To not be able to agree on this 'simple' question

[pooopypants]

Please help me answer, to DH, what has been an ongoing discussion for at least 4 weeks:

A shop closes at 12pm (midday) and reopens at 2pm the same day. 12pm on the dot, 2pm on the dot. How long is the shop closed for, in hours?

There's no riddle behind it, nothing to bend time, stop clocks etc etc

It's also not a trick question, we just can't agree and I can't find another way to explain this

I hope he’s not responsible for the wages at his work, everyone will be underpaid.
What a roaster!!

I think I’m bad at maths until I read something like this and suddenly realise how bad I could actually be 🤣

if he thinks 12.00 to 2.00 is 3 hours, how long does he think it is shut if it opens at 1.00? If he says 2 hours, ask him what time it would reopen if it shuts for 1 hour. Maybe then the penny will drop??

Or this?

The real problem here is that he can't seem to accept it even thou you are obviously right. Everyone makes stupid mistakes but so many middle aged men seem unable to admit it.

Ask him how many hours there are between 12 and 1, and how many between 1 and 2.

I'm curious as to whether he'll think that's two in each, so change his mind to get four hours in total when he adds them together

DO make sure you record him stating his current position loudly and clearly, before you show him incontrovertible evidence against his position.

Then, once he's got it, same again.

What are the chances that he'll admit his mistake and that you were right all along, even after performing a complete volte face? I'm guessing, hmm, well, zero minus zero equals zero.

The power of his self-belief sounds positively Trumpian.

Actually, get a signed statement.

Frame them both and attach to the wall.

I think he's counting 12-1-2 = 3. I'm not, because you don't count 12, it starts at 12. He even broke it down into minutes and tried explaining to me that way. I still didn't agree. And he thinks I'm the one who's wrong!

My DH does the same thing with months! I cannot convince him that you do NOT count the month you're 'starting with' because 30/31 days have not yet passed.

Drives me insane!

Well 12 + 1 + 2 = 15

Obviously.

Thus, the 24 hour clock is wrong and 15:00 is actually 2pm.

Blasted Europeans trying to steal our hours!

What???

So if he went to work from 12-2, he'd expect to be paid for 3 hours???

Ask him this, if he employed someone to work on your house for two hours, would he expect them to work from 12-1?

What time does he take his lunch break? How long does he take??

The mind boggles!

Does he have a lunch hour at work?

Ask him what time he goes and comes back at and how long he takes.

It's giving me the rage that your DH is arguing that he's right - how have you not slapped him?

unless it's a wind-up I don't know if my relationship could recover from this - I would lose all respect!

Remind him of this
while p.m. is short for “post meridiem” (or “after midday
As the shop was open at 11.59.59
They shut the shop at 12.00
But the shop was closed at 12.00.01
The purple inside circle is one hour.
Little hand moves forward one hour from 12 to 1.
The purple outside circle is an hour.
Little hand moves forward one hour from 1 to 2.

Sandman, if the decade started in the first second of the first minute of the first hour of the first day of the first month of the first year of the the decade then 2020 is the start of the decade, as soon as that second has passed. Why would it start a year later? Who says a decade runs 1-10 rather than 0-9? A decade is just a period of 10 years so there is no rule about when the decade starts and ends so much people, rightly, run it from the first second of 2020 to the last second of 2029. Nothing wrong with that.

So for some bizarre reason years are the only thing we start counting at zero.

"Zero, one, two, three..."

Everything else we count 'One, two, three...'

So when we are talking about years Zero is first, One is second, Two is third...?

This would mean the first decade of the common era started with a nine year decade? There was no 'Year Zero' to be the first year of that decade. The first century of the Common Era would only have been 99 years long.

None of which makes any sense. Start counting at one and it all does.

Are you sure he's not just trolling you OP?

He’s wrong and you’re right. How can it be 3?!

More seriously though, why have you been arguing with a plank for four weeks? Doesn't that make something of a fool out of you?

You know you're right. Why bother caring what he thinks?

Surely a case for 'you believe whatever makes you happy darling', a quizzical look, raised eyebrow, or a 'hmmm, this again darling?', if ever there was one.

I'm kind of curious to hear more about his reasoning for how it's three hours. What did he draw in his diagram?

This is almost flat-Earth level stuff.

When you say you've been arguing for four weeks... whose method are you using to count the weeks?

Yeah he's having you on !!

Count the minutes - there would be 120 divide this by 2 = 60. 60 minutes = 1 hour. So there is 2 hours.

I used to get confused with this when counting. My DD's school touched their heads when they say the first number and then count the rest on their fingers. The answer is the number of fingers. - It worked wonders for me haha

It is definitely 2 hours. There can be no other answer.

Is he counting 12, 1, 2 and coming up with three hours that way? Bizarre way of doing it, and wrong. The shop closed at 12pm and reopened at 2pm.

1hr and 58 mins?

He's talking about hours mentioned, ie 12, 1 and 2 - so three
He needs to see it as hours completed