Time on the maths clock

After a successful Valentine’s date, a colleague was feeling particularly generous and gave the Commercial Science team a clock as a present. But this was no ordinary clock. In place of the numbers are mathematical formulae.

The big hand is pointing to: $- e ^ { i \pi }$

And the little hand is pointing to: $\frac { \pi ^ { 2 } } { \int _ { 0 } ^ { 1 } \frac { \ln ( x ) } { x - 1 } d x }$

What time is it?

Reveal solution

It is 6:05.

$e ^ { i \pi }$ is the Euler identity, equal to -1.

$\frac { \pi ^ { 2 } } { \int _ { 0 } ^ { 1 } \frac { \ln ( x ) } { x - 1 } d x }$ is equal to 6.

Did you find the solution difficult or unusual?

This kind of result is quite normal for practical problem solvers who use maths to help businesses. They do not always have the problem statement clearly defined. To start to develop a solution to a real-world business problem they have to make certain assumptions. These assumptions are then updated as the results are analysed.

With thanks to the Tesco commercial science team.