From: Ian Goddard (Ian@goddard.net)
Date: Wed Jan 05 2000 - 21:29:53 MST
At 06:54 PM 01/05/2000 -0800, J. R. Molloy wrote:
>> IAN: If a page = a year, then Jan 1, 2000 is
>> not the end but the BEGINNING of page 2000
>> where the first page is defined as page 1.
>
>In reality, pages do not equal years.
>
>On your 20th birthday, you have lived for twenty years. That day begins your
>21st year (just as the day of your birth begins your first year). Likewise,
>January 1, 2000 began the 21st century. Get used to it.
IAN: If you'd read the second link I provided
you'd realize that the years (...1996, 1997...)
represent ordinal counting, whereas your age
represents cardinal counting. Once your age
is 19 (cardinal), you're in your 20th (ordinal)
year of existence. A baby born at the beginning
of the first year was 1,998 years old (cardinal
counting) during the year 1999 (ordinal counting).
So only 1,999 years have passed during year 2000.
Another ordinal-cardinal situation is hours on the
clock. There is a zero hour (00:00 - 01:00), which
is hour 1 when counting ordinally, and thus the
hour 23 (cardinal) is hour 24 (ordinal). The
years we use as dates are ordinal counting,
which is not really an issue in dispute.
>> IAN: There is no year zero on the Gregorian calender.
>
>So, because the Gregorians erred and forgot to start with zero we should
care?
>I don't think so.
IAN: Actually they didn't err any more than every
book that does not start with page 0 has erred.
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GODDARD'S JOURNAL: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/journal.htm
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