This is the Polar Clock (apparently, it’s soooo 2009). I recommend grabbing the screensaver or smartphone app (Win/Mac/Android/iPhone versions all available). In a pinch, you can watch a video of someone else running the app here.
Polar Clock isn’t precisely a Meyerian[1] What Can You Do With This? creature. But I do think the Polar Clock falls in the same genus as WCYDWT because it could inspire some pretty cool mathematical investigations.
If you’re a Georgia math teacher, check out standards from Math II, specifically the properties-of-circles stuff under MM2G3.
I ask y’all, what mathy questions does the Polar Clock inspire? Leave ’em in the comments.
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[1] As I understand it, Dan Meyer’s WCYDWT requires that the problem have a hook anyone can guess at, that the math scaffolding can slowly be lowered, and that the photo/video/hologram/whatever look good. I got this based on my reading of http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?cat=70.
I’m a math / computer programming teacher, so to me I think : “How can I make this app? How long does the arc have to be for X seconds?”
Agreed — the “how would I make this” came to mind for me. Of course, the simpler “how do I read this clock? how does it work?” was where I went first.
The first time I saw the app, there were no labels — just moving arcs.
FWIW, when I figured the clock out, I next wanted to know when the clock will have all the arcs exactly half-full. Or completely full.