Numbers game

OH, not the old chestnut (Letters, January 8) of how many years does it take to change a millennium or, in this case, a decade and the answers are 1,000 and 10 respectively.

Of that there is no doubt or argument. The problem only arises if we’re not sure when we’re starting to count the chestnuts and when we finish counting the decade.

Is it the first as it goes onto the brazier or is it only the first when it is cooked and the second one goes on?

Do we start counting at one or do we, like all good mathematicians, begin at nought? It’s a bit like counting lampposts and the spaces between — there’s always one post more than spaces, 10 years, 11 midnights, 31 December.

Patrick Dolan

Kinsale

Co Cork