From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Paul Rubin Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: What is the history behind Natural'First = 0 ? Date: Mon, 04 May 2020 01:50:19 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: <877dxsozhw.fsf@nightsong.com> References: <9f0215ca-2760-47cf-a7cb-50184892e1d0@googlegroups.com> <874ksz4gwd.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> <87o8r43hoa.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> <87ftcg2yip.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: reader02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="117e69181489c44a39ed9e3dbf9ec7cb"; logging-data="26124"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18CfAu+RGKFHhT1o/Z4vkKq" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/26.1 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:TAJD0kmv5QuqW5dHj2r9CGyiD/I= sha1:Ko/B9CbmJQbY/hxkABLSZDhOfB0= Xref: reader01.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:58574 Date: 2020-05-04T01:50:19-07:00 List-Id: Keith Thompson writes: > The 1980 edition had the same thing. I know there was another > preliminary version in 1982 (before the first official standard in > 1983), but I don't know what it said. In math nowadays, "natural numbers" and ordinals are generally considered to begin with 0 rather than 1. I think that reflects a cultural change that might have been taking place around the 1980s. There is some discussion here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_number#Modern_definitions