Innumeracy abounds in TV, newspapers

It began with the broadcast media. Then it hit the front page, as well as other pages. An industry that would not tolerate staff illiteracy, and supposedly triple-checks its facts before dissemination, seems to bask in the ignorant glow of innumeracy (the numerical equivalent of illiteracy).

The new decade, century and millennium did not begin in the year 2000.

They began Jan. 1, 2001.

This decade is not over! It ends on Dec. 31, 2010.

When we count things, we start counting with one, not zero. That means 2001 was the first year of this decade, 2010 the tenth and last. Then comes 2011. If it seems to be a joke to consider numerical correctness, ask if you would be laughing if engineers were so careless. It is probably true that the geeks will inherit the Earth, it just seems that they will do it a year after everyone else has departed.

Stan Weitzenfeld

Arlington Heights