Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year! (See comments section for a pedantic question)
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13 comments:
The media are informing us that 1st Jan 2010 C.E. is the start of a new decade. Technically they are wrong. The new decade starts on 1st Jan 2011 C.E. Can anyone tell me why?
Clue: There is no year 0 C.E.
To figure this one out you need to know how the Gregorian calendar works:
A.D. stands for Anno Domini (in the year of the Lord)
B.C. stands for Before Christ
However, because of its religious connotations scholars now prefer to use:
C.E. (Common Era)
B.C.E. (Before Common Era)
Today, two thousand and nine years have passed since the year 1 C.E.
I guess its because time in itself started post 1 C.E
I guess its like saying If you haven't read the preface, you havent read the WHOLE book!
Sir, if the first decade was 1 C.E. to 11 C.E.,
1-11=1
12-22=2
23-33=3
34-44=4
45-55=5
56-66=6
67-77=7
78-88=8
89-99=9
100-110=10
Those are 10 decades.
Basically as this year will end, a decade will get over. If this is a new decade, does that means the last decade started in 1999? Think over that. I had a long discussion over this with My Cousin and then came to the conclusion that the new decade starts on 1st January 2011. But Im still unsure.
Sonal
You're absolutely right in the first part - that the new decade will start only in 2011 (But the break down would look like this:
1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40... 1981-1990, 1991-2000, 2001-2010, 2011-2020...)
So, the new millennium actually started on January 1st 2001 and not on Jan 1st 2000. It's common sense - but the media and everyone else are so eager to celebrate, that they don't think first.
The first century C.E. was from the year 1-100. Therefore the 20th century was from 1901 to 2000. This century is from Jan 1st 2001 to Dec 31st 2100.
Yeah, this was extremely confusing at the start of the new millenium when I was learning historical dates. And when we were celebrating the start of the new millenium at school everyone was puzzled... But apparently most people are blissfully unaware so the media just go along with the option more people understand. But really its just because the media just can't wait to put something new through to the public
Well all you have to do is just count really. Every ten years are a decade so from Year 1 C.E to 10 C.E is one decade and so on.
Therefore from 2001 to 2010 is one decade and from 2011 to 2020 is another.
This question confused me a bit in the beggining but the clue helped alot. I guess it's common sense that there cannot be a 0 C.E and since a decade is a period of 10 years, it just takes counting to understand why.
0-10 first decade
11-20 second decade
21-30 third decade
Breaking it down like this is much easier to understand.
Oh, I understand it now. Today in class I was confused about the exact same topic. However, the clue helped me put the pieces together!
Obviously, we humans have many weaknesses. One of them is a lack of patience. You're right sir. The people are so damn eager to celebrate and party that they tend to neglect solid facts which they themselves have concocted in the first place!
So, in conclusion, the new decade, as all comments above have stated, will begin on 1st January 2011 C.E.
So Happy New Year, not a new decade! :p
lolzz superbly interesting!!!! :) i did figure this out myself though :P lolzzz so no point typing it out again!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
From the year 2000 - 2010 is one decade therefore the year 2010 cannot be the START of a new decade.
That is the reason the year 2011 will be the start of a new decade.
Just needs counting, as many have stated before me, so I will just leave it at that ;)
COOOL
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