3 ms·

> Array indexing is such a core thing and I don't understand why anything mathematical or scientific would start with 1. From data analytic point of view, inde

> Array indexing is such a core thing and I don't understand why anything mathematical or scientific would start with 1. From data analytic point of view, indexing should start with 1. When we analyze a data table, we always call the first row as the 1st row, or row #1, not row #0. It will be very strange to label rows as 0, 1, 2, 3, .... It may be fine for people with Computer Science background. But it would create so much confusion for almost everyone else...

throwawaymaths 4y ago
It causes problems for people with a CS background too. I once numbered machines in racks with zero-indexing (so that they could match up with zero-indexed ip addresses). Even though literally everyone who touched those machines had CS background: DO NOT DO THIS.
- dekhn 4y ago
  It just amuses me that one of the big differences between the US and EU is which floor is "first" and which one is "zero" or "minus one".
  - FabHK 4y ago
    Yes. A German friend of mine moved into her student dormitory in the US, and when she was told that her room was on the first floor, asked whether there was a lift, because she had a heavy suitcase... Having said that, given that there are basements (in Europe, at least), it makes sense to call the ground floor 0. We are dealing with integers here, not natural numbers.
    - CRConrad 4y ago
      But floors of multi-storey buildings are a pretty unique exception in the real world in having a characteristic where zero -- the number of stairs you need to climb from the ground floor -- has an actual tangible meaning (on the ground floor). How many other such examples can you (editorial you; anyone) come up with? Not many, I'd bet.
      - FabHK 4y ago
        I thought you'd be wrong, and immediately came up with: - Hours after midnight. The (non-anglosaxon) watch goes from 0:00 to 24:00 (the latter is useful for deadlines: The proposal must be submitted by Friday, 24:00 (which coincides with Saturday, 0:00)). Then I cheated and looked up Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-based_numbering#Other_fields https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-based_numbering#Other_fie... ) - and whoops, that's basically it!
        CRConrad 4y ago
        Yeah, duh, totally forgot that one. And I should know; the alarm clock on my windowsill says 0:54 right now.
        CRConrad 4y ago
        Year -- or rather, decade, century, and millennium -- numbering. We're only in the second year of the second decade of the twenty-first century, so the decade will end and the next start at the end, not the beginning, of 2030. But this is perhaps more of a problem with numbers and zeroes, and ends and beginnings; people don't get that 10 is the last of the 00s, not the first of the 10s. The very first year was numbered 1, not 0, so that's not the problem. Or, it kind of is: People would be right, if the first year had been 0.

throwawaymaths 4y ago

It causes problems for people with a CS background too. I once numbered machines in racks with zero-indexing (so that they could match up with zero-indexed ip addresses). Even though literally everyone who touched those machines had CS background: DO NOT DO THIS.

dekhn 4y ago
It just amuses me that one of the big differences between the US and EU is which floor is "first" and which one is "zero" or "minus one".
- FabHK 4y ago
  Yes. A German friend of mine moved into her student dormitory in the US, and when she was told that her room was on the first floor, asked whether there was a lift, because she had a heavy suitcase... Having said that, given that there are basements (in Europe, at least), it makes sense to call the ground floor 0. We are dealing with integers here, not natural numbers.
  - CRConrad 4y ago
    But floors of multi-storey buildings are a pretty unique exception in the real world in having a characteristic where zero -- the number of stairs you need to climb from the ground floor -- has an actual tangible meaning (on the ground floor). How many other such examples can you (editorial you; anyone) come up with? Not many, I'd bet.
    - FabHK 4y ago
      I thought you'd be wrong, and immediately came up with: - Hours after midnight. The (non-anglosaxon) watch goes from 0:00 to 24:00 (the latter is useful for deadlines: The proposal must be submitted by Friday, 24:00 (which coincides with Saturday, 0:00)). Then I cheated and looked up Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-based_numbering#Other_fields https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-based_numbering#Other_fie... ) - and whoops, that's basically it!
      - CRConrad 4y ago
        Yeah, duh, totally forgot that one. And I should know; the alarm clock on my windowsill says 0:54 right now.
        CRConrad 4y ago
        Year -- or rather, decade, century, and millennium -- numbering. We're only in the second year of the second decade of the twenty-first century, so the decade will end and the next start at the end, not the beginning, of 2030. But this is perhaps more of a problem with numbers and zeroes, and ends and beginnings; people don't get that 10 is the last of the 00s, not the first of the 10s. The very first year was numbered 1, not 0, so that's not the problem. Or, it kind of is: People would be right, if the first year had been 0.