...but the millennium has not begun

2000/01/02 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Matematika

It was not zero years and a century is 100 years old.

Royal Observatory Greenwich clearly says: The XXI will begin in 2001. century. It was not zero years and the century is 100 years old. The year 2000 will also be a visit.

In recent months the western world has lost its head. We are already in 2000, which has long been linked to the concept of the future. Now the question is what that year is: is it the last year of this century and of the millennium? Do you have to wait a year? Or have we premiered new centuries and millennia? The ability to answer these questions is also not very clear. Do scientists have the last word? Do you have the right to access such accounts? Many think it is a subjective decision. At least to computer people, it is clear that the problems of the new millennium have appeared since the first day of 2000.

2000 or 2001?

In what year the third millennium begins, the answer to this problem is not science. It is a problem of agreement. However, since the agreement has long been taken, we have to respect it. At the Royal Observatory Greenwich, our time reference, they have clearly said: XXI. The 20th century begins on January 1, 2001. However, most people have celebrated it in early 2000 and recognize that it is not a bad day to start the celebration. Therefore, once the officially adopted decision is known, there is no reason to worry about the fact that subjectivity is recognized.

The argument of the decision is simple to understand. It was not zero years and a century is 100 years old. Therefore, the year 100 must be included within the first century. The first year of the second century is year 101. The third, then, year 201, etc. Thus, the first year of the 20th century was the year 1901 and in the 21st century the first must be 2001.

This will not reduce the ability to generate anecdotes that will bring us the turn of the century. There is but to realize that, at least in the six hours following the entry of Europe into the new century, the American continent will live in the last century.

29 February 2000

In relation to what has been said so far, there is another question that has been mentioned at some point. Is the year 2000 visithis or not? In principle it seems a rather silly question. Of course. There is no reason not to be a visitor. Being multiple of 4, it must be so. Unlike the above, this issue is fully integrated in the scientific field.

Remember why there are visionary years. The Earth needs more than 365 days to complete a tour around the Sun, about six hours more. This means that to make four laps, four times with 365 days you don't have enough, you need another whole day. Therefore, when Julius Caesar elaborated his calendar, he said that every four years one day had to be added, that is, he invented a Visithis year. But this is not accurate at relatively long terms. Gregory XIII realized this. the pope in the sixteenth century. His intention was to organize the new calendar, removing ten days a year 1582, solving the existing gap and establishing a new norm for the visionary years. This new standard, unknown, should be used in the years ending 00: 1800, 1900, 2000... The norm indicates that these years will only be multiples of the number 400. 1800, 1900, 2100 are not Visive years, 1600, 2000 and 2400 yes. Therefore, it will have 29 February this year 2000.