3 ms·

It does make sense in the natural world for distance and time, though. For example, when you "count to ten" you are not counting 10 seconds if you start at one,

It does make sense in the natural world for distance and time, though. For example, when you "count to ten" you are not counting 10 seconds if you start at one, but 9 seconds, as you say "1" on second zero. To count 10 seconds, you need to start at zero ("where you are", as you mentioned). Same for distance. I'd say that the only situation where it makes sense to count from 1 is when you are counting objects. Of course, counting objects is so important that it dominates people's perception of numbers and counting.

x1798DE 10y ago
If you're counting off seconds, you say the number of seconds that elapsed before your declaration: "pause one, pause two, ..." So when you get to 10, you have said 10 numbers and there have been ten pauses. The "you are only counting 9 seconds" thing would only make sense if the counting period starts when you say the first number, which is not how I usually do it...
- Jtsummers 10y ago
  That first pause being preceded by what? "Go"? A button press? A pistol shot? All surrogates for "0".
  - junke 10y ago
    I agree that counting from zero has nice properties. But I must concede that e.g. in music, the surrogate for zero is the "first" beat. You are basically counting when intervals of time start, not when they end. The first second ends with the second beat (pun intended). |------------|------- t0 t1 ^ ^ First Second
- Jach 10y ago
  I typically only put the pause before one if I internally count a 0 first. :) But almost always I start the count and then pause. If I'm counting to 10, I'll start at one, and when I reach ten, still pause at the end before taking action. Similarly with counting down: if I'm counting down from 3, I don't pause, then say 3, I say 3, then pause. When coordination is needed, to reduce ambiguity I and pretty much everyone I've met say something that's not a number to signify an action starting (like "go!", or "start!"). The only other variant I've come across occasionally that puts the pause before is really just moving the non-number element to exist before the pause -- i.e. "on the count of 3 pause one, pause, two, pause, th(everyone starts)ree!".
- Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
  Maybe this is culture-dependent, but at least in my environment, people who do this don't make a conscious pause before the "1". For example, when I played hide-and-seek as a kid (and when I see kids playing now), the commonly accepted rule is that you can start running when the player who counts says "1". So you effectively have 9 "time units" to hide, not 10. Anyway, if you do make a conscious pause, I would argue that you are effectively counting from 0 even if you don't pronounce 0 due to the bias against that number caused by counting objects. The first pause needs to start somewhere, the start of that pause is in your mind (even if you don't pronounce it) and it corresponds to 0.
protonfish 10y ago
Counting things is what integers were specifically made for. Measurements (like time in seconds) should use a floating-point representation.

x1798DE 10y ago

If you're counting off seconds, you say the number of seconds that elapsed before your declaration: "pause one, pause two, ..." So when you get to 10, you have said 10 numbers and there have been ten pauses. The "you are only counting 9 seconds" thing would only make sense if the counting period starts when you say the first number, which is not how I usually do it...

Jtsummers 10y ago
That first pause being preceded by what? "Go"? A button press? A pistol shot? All surrogates for "0".
- junke 10y ago
  I agree that counting from zero has nice properties. But I must concede that e.g. in music, the surrogate for zero is the "first" beat. You are basically counting when intervals of time start, not when they end. The first second ends with the second beat (pun intended). |------------|------- t0 t1 ^ ^ First Second
Jach 10y ago
I typically only put the pause before one if I internally count a 0 first. :) But almost always I start the count and then pause. If I'm counting to 10, I'll start at one, and when I reach ten, still pause at the end before taking action. Similarly with counting down: if I'm counting down from 3, I don't pause, then say 3, I say 3, then pause. When coordination is needed, to reduce ambiguity I and pretty much everyone I've met say something that's not a number to signify an action starting (like "go!", or "start!"). The only other variant I've come across occasionally that puts the pause before is really just moving the non-number element to exist before the pause -- i.e. "on the count of 3 pause one, pause, two, pause, th(everyone starts)ree!".
Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
Maybe this is culture-dependent, but at least in my environment, people who do this don't make a conscious pause before the "1". For example, when I played hide-and-seek as a kid (and when I see kids playing now), the commonly accepted rule is that you can start running when the player who counts says "1". So you effectively have 9 "time units" to hide, not 10. Anyway, if you do make a conscious pause, I would argue that you are effectively counting from 0 even if you don't pronounce 0 due to the bias against that number caused by counting objects. The first pause needs to start somewhere, the start of that pause is in your mind (even if you don't pronounce it) and it corresponds to 0.

protonfish 10y ago

Counting things is what integers were specifically made for. Measurements (like time in seconds) should use a floating-point representation.