Time,

if you want to know it,

most of us look at a watch or mobile telephone, but back in 1975 a  Mengenlehreuhr (German for 'Set Theory Clock') was the first public clock in the world that tells the time by means of illuminated, coloured fields, the original full-sized Mengenlehreuhr was originally located at the Kurfürstendamm on the corner with Uhlandstraße, after the Senate decommissioned it in 1995, the clock was relocated to a site in Budapester Straße in front of Europa-Centre, where it stands today,

the clock is now showing 10.31, how can you tell? well it is quite easy if you know the 'set theory principle', the Mengenlehreuhr consists of 24 lights which are divided into one circular blinking yellow light on top to denote the seconds, two top rows denoting the hours and two bottom rows denoting the minutes,

the clock is read from the top row to the bottom, the top row of four red fields denote five full hours each, alongside the second row, also of four red fields, which denote one full hour each, displaying the hour value in 24-hour format, the third row consists of eleven yellow-and-red fields, which denote five full minutes each (the red ones also denoting 15, 30 and 45 minutes past), and the bottom row has another four yellow fields, which mark one full minute each, the round yellow light on top blinks to denote even- (when lit) or odd-numbered (when unlit) seconds,

given the lower photo of the clock as an example, two fields are lit in the first row (five hours multiplied by two, i.e. ten hours), but no fields are lit in the second row; therefore the hour value is 10, six fields are lit in the third row (five minutes multiplied by six, i.e. thirty minutes), while the bottom row has one field on (plus one minute), hence, the lights of the clock altogether tell the time as 10:31, there has got to be an easier way of telling the time than this and as I have no idea of the 'set theory principle' I will stick to looking at a watch or my mobile telephone.