Millennium’s Starting Point an Arbitrary One

Michael Helwig’s letter (“The Age-Old Question of What’s a Millennium,” Jan. 7) berates Tom Petruno for his willingness to go along with the majority’s determination to celebrate the new millennium when the year 2000 begins.

The 2001 advocates might heed the viewpoint of Bryan Hayes, who writes for American Scientist magazine. His reply to a letter writer (in the March-April 1995 issue) finds a shaky foundation for those who take a hard line. He notes that our numbering of the years was first proposed in the 6th century, and generally adopted three centuries later, so that the beginning time of the first millennium is arbitrary, determined only by counting backward from the present.

Without a well-defined beginning, there is no well-defined end. We should feel free to choose Dec. 31, 1999, as the last day of the second millennium.

AL CLARKE

Thousand Oaks