Paul R Wrote:Well I do feel kind of guilty for potentially hijacking the thread (but my choices would be Lost and.... sorry, I'm not too sure about a movie) but I have often wondered about this confusion (mine included, hence me putting a lot of thought into it) about when a decade/millennium starts and finishes.
I remember back when Y2K came and went - a lot of people at that time said we were all celebrating at the wrong time.
But I'm pretty sure I've got it right -
The First Year: 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
The Second Year: 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0
The Third Year: 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0
So you see, the 1999th year would go: 1998.1 ..... 1998.9, 1999.0
Which would make the new millennium start at 2000.0
And the final year of this decade (the 2010th year) go: 2009.1 ..... 2009.9, 2010.0
Making the end of the current year the end of the decade. And in turn, making the new decade start at the beginning of 2010 rather than the end because January 1st 2010 is the start of the two thousand and eleventh year, not the two thousand and tenth.
Phew. I think I need to lie down now.
Ken Valentine Wrote:It's the same in numbering years as it is in numbering anything.
When you're counting squares of toilet paper for example, you don't start with, "This is square Zero." Nope, you start at "square one."
Ken V.
KRW Wrote:I'm confused.... You're showing the years ending in 0's as the ending and the years ending in 1's as the beginning. Which would make the ending of a century end in 0, and the begginning of a century end with a 1.Yes, that's the way I see it. (But I find it very difficult to explain!)
Paul R Wrote:Yes, that's the way I see it. (But I find it very difficult to explain!)
The years end in a zero because when they end they're a completed whole number and so end in .0.
Take the current year as an example, and think of a year as a block of ten.
Last year ended as a whole number (2009.0) and this year started as 2009.1 and counted up to 2009.9 and then when the year is complete, the whole number is complete: 2010.0, the two thousand and tenth year.
KRW Wrote:So 2010 is the last in the decade and the beginning of the next would be 2011, right?Well, kind of.
Paul R Wrote:Well, kind of.
2010 is the end of the decade and that happens when we reach the end of the two thousand and tenth year, which is next week.
But the beginning of the next decade is also next week: it's the start of the two thousand and eleventh year, which begins on January 1st, 2010.
KRW Wrote:I'll add this, they're not considered 1 until they've reached a year, but it is still their "first" year of life. So on and so forth.You seem to have explained it far better - and more clearly - than I could!
webby Wrote:Agree with Scott on the movie. Sitting in the theatre watching Fellowship of the Ring, as the Shire first came into view it brought tears to my eyes for the absolute perfection of it.
Srem Wrote:My favorite big screen movie in the last nine years is a tough one, but off the top of my head I would have to say that the first Lord of the Rings movie did it for me.