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Time is math I think
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this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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it's not zero because you don't start at zero, you start at 12, it's an offset. With a 24 hour system the hour 24 doesn't actually exist, it's 00:00-23:00 that's it, with 12 hour clocks it's 1-12, twice.
It's just a shifting of where the scale starts, that's why it confuses you, because you don't think about it that way.
I know it's not zero and that's where the offset is, but my point is it ought to be zero and there shouldn't be any offset. A scale doesn't start at 12, numbers have a meaning.
Using zero makes far more sense not just in how am/pm is indicated, but in how we actually think about time. Nobody considers 00:45 = 12:45am as part of the previous day since it's clearly after midnight. Using 12am is just an outdated convention established by people who counted hours only on a per-day basis and to whom the concept of a "zeroth hour" seemed irrational.