confusing iq test question

[mollykins]

this question was on an iq test than i did about ten minutes ago but non of the answers are correct in my opinion. am I right or am i missing something?

. I went to bed at eight 8 'clock in the evening and wound up my clock and set the alarm to sound at nine 9 'clock in the morning. How many hours sleep would I get before being awoken by the alarm?

the answers are 1 hour or 18 hours but i make it 13.

[novalis]

1 hour is right. Your alarm clock is assumed to be a 12 hour rather than 24 hour clock. It would therefore go off at 9 p.m.

[oldmisery]

on a twelve hour clock if you set the alarm to go off at 9 o' clock it cannot differentiate between am or pm , thus going to bed at 8 pm the alarm would go off in one hour.

[scotman]

I agree that this is a bit of an iffy question. You cannot set a 12 hour alarm clock for morning or evening as the previous answers state.

[mollykins]

Thats what i thought scot.

[oldmisery]

I'd be interested to see how 18 hours was a correct answer.

[novalis]

Scotman,

I am well aware that you cannot set a 12 hour clock for a.m or p.m. Neither Oldmisery or I said anything about setting it for morning or evening. The question itself does. As Oldmisery states, the clock cannot differentiate between a.m and p.m. If you set a 12 hour alarm clock at 8 p.m. even if ithe intention is that it goes off at 9 a.m. it will go off at 9 p.m. Therefore the person will have only 1 hour's sleep.

[scotman]

Novalis
I agree with you!
It is the question that matters. If it says that the setting is for 9:00 in the morning that can only be done on a 24 hour clock.

[novalis]

Hi Scotman!

What matters here is the difference between the intention ( 9 a.m. ) and the actuality ( 9 p.m. ) The person who sets the clock intends it to go off in the morning but has overlooked the fact that on a 12 hour clock it will go off at 9 o'clock the same evening.

[oldmisery]

The answer given was one hour. so logically it was a twelve hour clock.

[scotman]

point about 18 hours. That MAY be a typo as 8 and 3 are often misread for each other

[scotman]

Novalis + OldM
I humbly submit that you are both perverting the logic of the question as written to suit the answer given

[oldmisery]

Hi Scotsman,
Well if its a typo then the answer was correct at 13 hours QED

[mollykins]

I looked again and there were two more answers, 11 and 21 - i hadn't scrolled down all the way.