Time notation.

When I look at the available games, the time colums describes time rules for each game. Ex. 5+8 means 5 minutes with 8 seconds increment. But in strict mathematical terms you cannot write 5+8, because 5 and 8 aren 't homogeneous quantities; as 5 measures total minutes and 8 measures seconds for each move. So 5+8 is a wrong notation. When you list the games by time, the system calculates the sums, then it lists the games according to those wrong sums.
This way a game with timing 0+10 results longer than another with time 6+3. Which is absurd.
In my opinion there should be two colums for timing: one column with basic time and another column with increment.
So, when listing the games by time, the system should first sort them according to basic time; then arranging games with the same basic time according to the increment.

This seems like a lot of work for no good reason.

Allowing sorting by both increment and initial time seems excessive. Currently, when sorting by time, the list is primarily sorted by initial time, and then secondarily sorted by incremental time.

If you were looking for looking for a game in more specific terms than that you may as well just create a game.

Also, don't get into the mathematics of it because there is none. The format is simply a format that everyone understands or learns to understand. A games initial time is almost ALWAYS measured in minutes (bar tournament matches that can go for hours), and increment time is almost ALWAYS measured in seconds (bar tournament matches that can have increments in minutes). (But online, no-one is going to play a match with tournament times)

If you use numbers and the sign +, that is mathematics, sorry. You cannot add seconds to minutes because they are different quantities, the same way as you cannot add peanuts to apples.

The system should do what you say, Clarkey; but CURRENTLY that is not true. CURRENTLY, when you write 5+8 the system reads 13 and when you write 1+20, it reads 21; so 21 is a longer time than 13 for the system.
You can try it yourself: choose sorting by time, then create a game with time 1+20. Almost surely it will appear the first in the list, as it 's the longest one for the system.

My proposal is keeping one column for time, but it should be divided into two sub-columns: one with initial time in minutes and one with move increment in seconds. Not much different than what it is now. Don 't use the sign +, because it 's misleading for an automatic system: it sees the sum as a single value.
For example we could write: 5m (8s) or 5' (8") or whatever you want.

Then sorting by time should be arranged as you are describing. But CURRENTLY that is not the case.

I agree this is not a major bug maybe; but it 's bug anyway.

First, it is not hard to understand.

Second, it is a chess standard and well-recognised notation that should not confuse anyone.

Third, the website doesn't use flexboxes because of shoddy support in browsers. Adding another column would seriously clutter up the main page.

Fourth, you don't understand how sorting works and this shows how you're talking completely out of your arse; a 1+20 game will do 2030 and add that to the second count (160). That's also how Lichess classifies games into different categories, such as slow, blitz, and bullet.

I rest my case.

I'm sorry. I'm going to have to run you into the ground for saying "If you use numbers and the sign +, that is mathematics, sorry. You cannot add seconds to minutes because they are different quantities, the same way as you cannot add peanuts to apples."

I'm a university level maths student.

Firstly, just because it's a plus sign does not mean "10 + 20" should literally interpreted as "10 + 20 = 30". It's a format, the same way that if I use a full stop, it should not be interpreted as a decimal point if I'm writing you a sentence. (I can give you plenty more examples if you want, take a look at the notation for degrees (angles) or the notation for imperial length measurements. CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT!)

Secondly, I can add apples and oranges up all day long if I want to. I'm going to guess that this next part is going to fly way over your head, but if you take any courses to do with linear algebra, you will always be adding two or more things together that are of different type.

Thank you for the explanations.

I was a university level math student many years ago: so I know all too well how math students do a lot of math mistakes.

Let 's not bother linear algebra, as this is matter for first class primary school. Kids learn that you can go to the market and add 5 apples to 8 oranges in your bag, but they 'll always remain 5 apples "and" 8 oranges. You cannot execute a math addition because 5+8 is 13 for the majority of us living on this planet; so the question would be "13 of what?".

Now the explanation is: here 5+8 actually means (560)+(308)=540.
I doubt that is exactly the calculation executed by the system; but if so, that would have a meaning at least, because at the question "540 of what?" you can answer "540 virtual seconds".

Currently the time is written with two numbers in the form of a sum. That means one number in the context of this world. And it 's a "wrong" number. You talk of flexboxes, another column, cluttering up... Why cannot you simply write "5 step 8" for instance, instead of using a plus sign, which is a wrong and misleading notation? It won 't be much different from what it looks like now.

I simply wanted to give my humble contribution for the improvement of the site, as I think the majority of people and automatic systems take a + sign as a sum. But I see you like it the wrong way. Ok. There are no problems for me. Just consider not everybody likes it the wrong way. Someone likes a more precise notation.

Just no. It's a widely accepted format.

"(560)+(308)=540", in the way that it has been explained is an abstract unit used define the type of game that is being played (based on a rough estimate of an average game length). The user does not see this number as it's not essential to the users' understanding of how long a game is - it's useful to the computer's understanding.

The way you should interpret "5 + 8" is "5 minutes PLUS 8 seconds per half move", but no-one in their right mind is going to write all of that down, so we use the notation "5 + 8". It's just a notation; people understand it; or they figure it out pretty quickly once they've played a game or two.

Lichess Operation "+" definition.

+(Int, Int) = Chess time control.

For math students you lack the basics.

Wow, someone felt the need to define a specific algebraic operation. That means it 's not so much simple and intuitive as they say, after all.
So in chess now we have a different kind of addition. When we write m+s, according to the explanations, that does not really mean m+s, but the calculation gives it proportionally the same as m + s/2.

So, taking ten casual games, one would expect to see them sorted by time in an ordered list like this:
10+8
5+15
5+8
5+3
2+20
2+15
2+10
1+20
1+13
1+8

Instead, with this original chess addition, the resulting list is ordered this way:
5+15
2+20
10+3
1+20
2+15
5+8
1+13
2+10
5+3
1+8

If definitions are correct, this is what we see. Ok, you like it that way, but frankly it does not look as an ordered list to me. In my humble opinion that is a mess.
Nothing more to say on this topic.