This might be a stupid question, but for that I’ve also been afraid to ask. But, I’ve been confused most of the time when people say “x-th century”. Why is the period 1900-1999 called the 20th century and not 19th century?
>In popular perception and practice, centuries are structured by grouping years based on sharing the ‘hundreds’ digit(s). In this model, the n-th century starts with the year that ends in “00” and ends with the year ending in “99”; for example, the years 1900 to 1999, in popular culture, constitute the 20th century. *(Wikipedia)*
What does it mean ‘in popular culture’? Why couldn’t, let’s say, the 19th century constitutes years within 1900-1999 and not the years before?
In: 1
Because the First Century is AD 1 to AD 100 (or 99). So the Second Century has to be 101-200 (or 100-199), the Third 201-300 (or 200-299). So the centuries are one less than the hundreds digit.
Because the First Century starts in AD 1, the ‘proper’ numbering doesn’t follow the common hundreds digit, but people prefer it that way.
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