Happy new year (and decade!)

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Whenever you might notionally have started counting ; the current year is 2020 and that dates from the year 1 (AD) ; and each decade , century , millennium begins with a year ending with the number 1 , because there are 10 , 100 , 1000 years making up each of those units - this is simple arithmetic .

'The 2020s are indeed a decade , and they begin on 1st January 2021 and end on 31st December 2030 , just as the third millennium began on 1st January 2001 .
A decade has no official start or end point, it is just a period of 10 years. Convention has dictated that in date terms a decade starts when the 3rd digit of the year changes. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a decade as such. You are welcome to use your own convention, it just wont be the same as everyone elses.
 
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A decade has no official start or end point, it is just a period of 10 years. Convention has dictated that in date terms a decade starts when the 3rd digit of the year changes. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a decade as such. You are welcome to use your own convention, it just wont be the same as everyone elses.
Correct, by definition a decade is just a group of ten years. So you could argue (that’s what we’re here for after all) that a new decade starts every microsecond!

What we choose to classify as decades counted in recognition all depends on whether you are counting ordinally or cardinally. Neither is uniquely correct, but the most popular is cardinal. The Gregorian calendar counts ordinally, so Pontoneer is perfectly justified in his choice. But he’s wrong to dismiss the ordinal counting that made Wednesday the start of a new decade, because the majority of people prefer the ordinal method which has become convention.

In summary, we’re all right!

Happy new whatever-you-want-it-to-be.
 
That would be an infinite number of new decades then....:

Achilles paradox | logic

(If you swap distance for time)
Ah, does a falling tree make a noise if no one is there to hear it.....

[emoji1417]

Sent from my awesome Samsung Galaxy Note 9
 
That would be an infinite number of new decades then....:

Achilles paradox | logic

(If you swap distance for time)
Augustine-Louis Cauchy mathematically debunked that paradox two centuries ago (or was it 199 years ago?). But you do raise the important question: Is there an infinite number of new decades or is the number of new decades approaching but never reaching infinity, somewhat like Achilles with the tortoise?
 
Ah, does a falling tree make a noise if no one is there to hear it.....

[emoji1417]

Sent from my awesome Samsung Galaxy Note 9
That, or:

"Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?"

(Hakuin Ekaku)
 
Ah, does a falling tree make a noise if no one is there to hear it.....

[emoji1417]

You silly Billy, of course Not.
Here's one for you, if a butterfly flaps his wings in the Amazon rain forest, will we feel the breeze in London?
Ans, Who gives a sh#t!?
 

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