Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I find this decree frustrating. Someone could have just as easily said "the 'first' century starts at 1 BC" to account for this.



Then what is the last year of the first century BC? 2 BC? Now there's an off-by-2!


Do you also count the first decade of your life from January 1st of the year before you were born?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_age_reckoning


Or better yet just year 0, why not? Do we say the 80s start in 1981?


The concept of zero was not popularized in 500s Europe, when the system was devised.


And also, the system is a direct descendant of regnal numbering, where zero wouldn’t have made sense even if invented (there is no zeroth year of Joe Biden’s term of office).




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: