• Rivalarrival
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    4 days ago

    On a 1’ ruler, the first half inch ends at 0.5". All of the measurements within that first inch are “0.x”. “1.x” will be in the second inch. “2.x” is in the third inch.

    Calendars don’t work like that. 1 January 1AD is in the first year, not the second. 31 December 1AD is still in the first year.

    364 days after his (ostensible) birth was December 31st, 1AD. At midnight that night (364.999… days) 1 full year was complete, and we entered the second year.

    3650 days after 1 January 1AD is 1 January 11AD.

    36500 days after 1 January 1 AD is 1 January 101AD.

    365000 days after 1 January 1AD is 1 January 1001AD.

    31 December 2000 was the last day of the second millenia. The first day of the third millenia was 1 January 2001.

    • NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone
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      3 days ago

      Year 1 AD would have started on March 1st, as Pope Gregory hadn’t happened yet. Also, no-one knew they were in the Julian Calendar AD yet either.

    • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      See, the ruler analogy is why I was so confused, because that’s how, intuitively, I would have expected it to work. I just never actually checked if that’s correct, and now it turns out that it’s not.