Re: Zero

In English, if we are careful in our phrasing, we can use either
inclusive reckoning (start counting at 1) or exclusive reckoning
(start counting at 0).

"The child is 'in its first year'; in three months, it will be 'one
year old.'"

Similarly, we can say that 1850 is part of the "nineteenth century"
even though it is part of the "eighteen hundreds."

And 2000 is part of the "twentieth century" even though it is not
part of the "nineteen hundreds," it is part of the "two-thousands" or
whatever you like.

It's all a matter of how you phrase it.

If you have no zero, though, you are often going to have to use
"inclusive reckoning" and use the number one to designate anything up
to and including the origin of the number line, rather than only using
it to include things which are past one unit.

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                       edheil@postmark.net
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