Time

Monotonic Time Belongs in Elapsed-Time Measurement

A timeout can be represented by an ordinary timestamp comparison: record a start value, read the clock later, subtract, and compare the result with a limit. The arithmetic looks complete. The clock model is not. Civil time exists to place events on a shared calendar. It can be corrected to stay aligned with an external time reference. Elapsed-time measurement has a different requirement: later observations within one running system need an ordering suitable for measuring an interval. A clock correction that improves civil-time accuracy can therefore be harmful when the same reading is treated as a stopwatch.