At 05:01 PM 4 September 2002 +0000, Bill Hooper wrote: >If year 1 ran from January to December, >wouldn't the year -1 run from December to January? If the numbers run >backwards on the negative side of zero, why shouldn't the fractions (months) >run backward, too? The do for purely numerical fractions. > >When the Bishop of Usher estimated that the world was created >"in the year -2004, on Monday, the 23rd day of the month of October, at 9:00 >a.m.", did he mean that it occurred in the 10th month of the year -2004 or >in the third month? If the months are reversed, October is the third month. > >Poor Bishop! He had a lot of faith but not much number sense. I wonder if he >even thought of the missing year zero when he made his calculation.
There is some more info on Bishop Ussher at: http://www.arm.ac.uk/history/ussher.html If you click on "Superfluous Chronology, a lighthearted view" you will get some interesting reading relating in part to the questions you pose. Jim Elwell
