Zero

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nik Taylor" <fortytwo@...>
> Muke Tever wrote:
> > Know why?
> > The Mayans had zero.   When our calendar was invented, we didn't.
>
> True, but we use zero in ages.  A child isn't "1" at birth, but rather
> "0", altho we actually say "newborn".  With chronology, we start with 1,
> with ages we start with 0.  Strange.
Actually zero in ages is rare.  A newborn child usually gets its age in
weeks or months; instead of 'The child is zero years old' you get something
like 'The child is five months old.'

> Besides, saying "because there was no year 0" makes it sound like an
> aberration that we've since outgrown.
Well, not necessarily.  It basically means that even if they had wanted it..
they hadn't had it.

> But saying that 1BC, 1AD is a "blunder" is, IMO, false.
(Didn't think it was a blunder...)

> If you start a job, do you refer to the day you begin as your "zeroth
> day" at that job?  No, it's the "first day".
Right.. zero is not a 'counting number' (or 'natural number' is the more
normal term?).  When you're just counting, you use 'counting numbers': { 1,
2, 3,... }  When we have a number line that goes one way from an origin
point, you use 'whole numbers': { 0, 1, 2, 3,... }   And when your number
line goes both ways, you use 'integers': { ..., -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3,... }

So basically our problem is that our time line isn't a number line, though
_now_ that's what we expect it to be...      right?

> The Solar Calendar, which was invented in the United Cities of Luna in
> the 22nd (?) century, and implemented in the 25th (?) uses 0.
Mmm.  There's no terasse word for zero-as-a-number, although there is 'nel-'
for an absence of quantity.  Calendar still needs working on...

> > "Me too".. though I've once heard 'Y2L' offered.
>
> Y2L?  As in L follows K?  Odd.
See, because the computers couldn't handle four digits, they use 'Y2K',
'Y2L', 'Y2M', etc. and won't run out for quite some time.


    *Muke!
--
"I don't play hooky--I work very hard at it."
http://i.am/muke  AIM: MukeTurtle  FM: Muke  ICQ: 1936556