16th July 2004, 9:47 AM
When you think about it calling the 20th century the years from 1900 to 1999 would make sense (of course it's actually 1901 to 2000, but that's later). Think about it -- the first century starts with the year 1, right? Or zero, zero to 99 ideally... so the second century has to start with 101, etc. It's a little confusing, but it's the only way to do things.
As for the way that everything's off by a year, that's simpler. The guy who invented the system didn't use a number system that included zero, so the first year was 1 AD and the year before that 1 BC (it was invented in 100 or 200-something AD, I think... by, yes, a Christian of course. Before that most of the Western world used the Roman calendar, which dated things back to the founding of Rome in 700 or something BC). So the result is that everything's off by a year.
As for the way that everything's off by a year, that's simpler. The guy who invented the system didn't use a number system that included zero, so the first year was 1 AD and the year before that 1 BC (it was invented in 100 or 200-something AD, I think... by, yes, a Christian of course. Before that most of the Western world used the Roman calendar, which dated things back to the founding of Rome in 700 or something BC). So the result is that everything's off by a year.
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