On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:51:49 -0500, Delirium delirium@hackish.org wrote:
Mark Richards wrote:
Yes, we should document popular math errors too, and popular misconceptions about how gravity works! ;)
Except that these aren't errors. Dividing time in such ways is completely arbitrary either way you do it. "The 20th century" is 1901-2000, and an arbitrary span of 100 years. "The 1900s" is 1900-1999, and an arbitrary span of 100 years. Neither is particularly "correct". The only thing I could possibly see as incorrect is if you were to refer to 1900-1999 as "the 20th century" or to 1901-2000 as "the 1900s".
-Mark
Do people not also (confusingly) use "the 1900s" to refer to 1900-1909?
Zoney