When does 20th century start

Those who argue that January 1, , must be the beginning of the third millenium do so on the grounds that there was no such thing as A. The astronomer Dionysius Exiguus, who devised the Christian calendar in the sixth century A. Anno Domini , went directly from 1 B. The probable reason that Dionysius did so is that the number zero had yet to be introduced into the Western world from India: at the time, astronomers and the like suffered through calculations using Roman numerals. For this reason, advocates of "" contend that since the calendar began at A.

It wasn't until the second century, aka the 2nd century, that the years had a digit in the hundreds column: the year was a century and a half into the new era, putting it smack-dab in the middle of the 2nd century. AD also styled A. AD is contrasted with BC also styled B. It depends on who you ask.

Some people think the 22nd century will start January 1, and end December 31, , with the 23rd century beginning on January 1, But there is a long history of people insisting that this is flat-out wrong for mathematical reasons: a century is by definition years in length, and the first century started on January 1, 1, which means that when December 31, 99 rolled around only 99 years had passed; therefore, the first century of the current millennium didn't actually end until December 31, , and the second century didn't begin until January 1, This topic has proven to be vexatious especially at the turns of centuries, starting at the end of the 17th one, according to a Library of Congress article by Ruth S.

Freitag called "Battle of the Centuries. We have uniformly rejected all letters, and declined all discussion upon the question of when the present century ends?

The present century will not terminate till January 1, , unless it can be made out that 99 are Eighteen centuries are years, then how can 18 centuries be completed till the year has expired?

A Kent , Washington, newspaper had this to say about when the century turned:. Quirk of the Count What was called the Christian Era -- now called the Common Era to reflect the diversity of religions -- began in the year 1.

A Kent , Washington, newspaper had this to say about when the century turned: "Throughout christendom there has been a voluminous, fierce discussion as to when the new century begins -- whether it is this New Years [January 1, ] or next.

How could it run to its own beginning? A century is complete years. So the first century ended on Dec. That took it to the first day of the second century, Jan. And so on to Jan. Of course. And that is the custom that will set off riotous celebrations on the night of Dec. The next day we will be in the s, even though, in fact, the 20th Century has a year to go.

I wonder, will 20th Century Fox change its name to 21st Century Fox a year early? Howard A.