Happy New Year to all who are reading this. A friend of mine wished me all the best for the new decade and I have also seen things on the Internet and on TV along the lines of “the best … of the last decade”.
I want to point out a very simple numerical truth: It is not the end of the decade. The end of the decade occurs on 31 December 2010 and the new decade begins on 1 January of next year.
To understand why, you need to remember that the current millenium did not begin on 1 January 2000. In fact, this millenium began on 1 January 2001. You see, by definition, the millenium is a period of one thousand years. So, if you begin from 1 AD and count the first one thousand years, then 1 AD is the first year, 2 AD is the second and so on. You will reach your goal on the last day of 1000 AD. On that very day, a full one thousand years will be “behind you” in your count and on the next day – 1 January 1001 – you will have entered the second millenium. Now, continue counting: 1001 (first year), 1002 (second year), 1003 (third year) and so on, until you reach 1999 (999th year). You should now be able to see that 2000 is the 1000th year in your count and the end of the second millenium…
So, 2001 is the first year of the third millenium, which is the one we are in. Now, count the first ten years of this third millenium:
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
So the first decade of this millenium will close on 31/12/2010.
I suppose people base their end-of-decade feelings on the presence of the number 10 in 2010, but as I have shown this is not a correct foundation. I will seize the opportunity and say that if we wish to understand phenomena and processes that are part of our natural world and/or our society, it is important to be clear in our understanding of simple matters such as this one. And it isn’t that much of a bother to remember this subtlety.
So, until 31 December 2010: Happy New Year (only).
true, but since all dates are arbitrary anyway a new year/decade/century/millennium is about as exciting as watching my digital clock roll over from AM to PM. Or 11:09 to 11:10.
Any moment at all could be regarded as the start/end of a decade.
happy blogging!
@invisibules: Thanks. Yes, I think that what you are saying is related to the hint at the beginning of the penultimate paragraph. The 10 in 2010 carries enough ‘weight’ to lead one to say ‘a decade’.
You make a good point, but I must debate it.
You see, the first year (AD) was not 1 AD. It was 0 AD. If we then count the years that way, we come to the conclusion that on the first day of year 10, ten years had gone by, and therefore a new decade was beginning. Follow it through to the current decade, and we see that 2010 is the beginning of the second decade of the millennium.
However, I could be wrong. I’m pretty sure we don’t know how the years were counted two thousand or so years ago, and there is no way of knowing for sure. In any case, those are my two cents.
@Zack: Thank you very much for your comment. However, the first year is 1 AD. There never was a 0 AD. The line of progression of years counts down to 1 BC and continues with 1 AD, the year of the birth of Jesus Christ. Have a look at Wikipedia:AD and Wikipedia:Year Zero to see this point and obtain more information.
I agree with you that we don’t know how the years were counted back then. I can’t imagine the keepers of calendars in the Roman Empire suddenly exclaiming “Oh, dear, we’ll have to start counting from 1!” upon hearing the news of Jesus Christ’s birth. Besides, as the Wikipedia entry says, the AD system was devised in 525.
I find it amusing that you thought along these lines, since I had it in mind to add something similar to my post before publishing it. However, I decided against it, so as not to make it too heavy-going. What I was planning on saying was that if there ever existed a full zeroth year (as you yourself supposed), then 2010 would indeed be the beginning of a decade. This is in line with the simple observation that in the sequence:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
9 is the tenth number and 10 is the eleventh number. Since you indicate on your blog that you enjoy programming (like I do), it is likely that you should be familiar with this concept from handling arrays.
Once again, thank you for discussing this with me and keep up your good blog work.
By the way, how did you find me? I am curious to know as this is a very new blog!
Well there you go, there was no year zero. As I said, I hadn’t done any research. The wikipedia articale provided some interesting information though. Something to think about.
Yeah, I’d been thinking about the whole idea after hearing a lot from people about whether or not it was the beginning of a new decade. And I think it came slightly naturally to me to think of years, as you said, like arrays.
I actually found your blog in WordPress’s “possibly related posts” section underneath, I believe, my Merry Christmas and Happy New Year post. I’m definitely going to keep reading!
Zack, thank you for your encouragement. I am glad that you found the posts interesting.