2018 – 1960 = 58, not 59

I ran into an interesting fellow yesterday. (Now, since this person was a taxi driver, I am happy to report that I am using “ran into” in its figurative rather than literal sense.) Let’s call him Fred (since this is the first name that popped into my mind).

Fred reported that he would turn 59 in November this year, and that he was born in 1960. Yesterday’s date was August 31, 2018.

Before I comment on Fred’s statement, let me note that every person has both areas of weakness and areas of strength. Sometimes these strengths and weaknesses can be profound. Fred, for example, seemed to have a strength better than mine in social interactions. He seemed to know how to deal politely with people who disagree with his beliefs. Many taxi drivers have that strength, but Fred’s was more pronounced than average.

Let’s now turn our thoughts back to Fred’s statement. It immediately drew my attention because one of my strengths is basic arithmetic and its application to real life. I pointed out that 2018 minus 1960 equals 58, which means that Fred would turn 58, not 59, in November. Fred’s statement lacked internal consistency (although I did not say so in those words).

Fred did not immediately accept my comment. He seemed a reasonable man capable of reasonable thought, so I prefer to think that his weakness in this area is a failure of the educational system, not a personal fault of the man. The educational system teaches arithmetic in its early grades. For some strange reason, it had promoted Fred even though he had not fully understood the fundamental concepts taught in the earlier grades. How deceptive is that – telling people they made the grade when they didn’t?

I recognize that there are many people like Fred, not just in the field of mathematics, but in many of the basic fields we need to master. The system has grossly failed us because it doesn’t want to tell people that they did not master the concepts they were taught. “Oh, dear, I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, so let’s just promote them to the next grade and let them feel good about themselves.” People who don’t master the concepts should not feel good about that.

And, for Fred’s benefit, as well as for others who do not see the internal inconsistency in his statement, here is a table to show that Fred will turn 58, not 59 in a couple of months.

Year    Age on Dec. 31
1960    0
1961    1
1962    2
1963    3
1964    4
1965    5
1966    6
1967    7
1968    8
1969    9
1970    10
1971    11
1972    12
1973    13
1974    14
1975    15
1976    16
1977    17
1978    18
1979    19
1980    20
1981    21
1982    22
1983    23
1984    24
1985    25
1986    26
1987    27
1988    28
1989    29
1990    30
1991    31
1992    32
1993    33
1994    34
1995    35
1996    36
1997    37
1998    38
1999    39
2000    40
2001    41
2002    42
2003    43
2004    44
2005    45
2006    46
2007    47
2008    48
2009    49
2010    50
2011    51
2012    52
2013    53
2014    54
2015    55
2016    56
2017    57
2018    58

For each row in this table, please note that Fred’s age on Dec. 31st can be represented by the mathematical expression Y-B, where Y is the year and B is the birth year. In Fred’s case the current year is 2018 and the birth year is 1960, so Fred’s age as at Dec. 31st of this year is 2018-1960 = 58. Not 59.