The 21st Century is 16 Years Old!

[Rhondazvous]

Try it this way:

-1 (or 1 BCE) is immediately followed by 1 CE.  Thus, the first century of the Common Era began on the first day of the year 1.  When year 2 starts, only one year has elapsed - at the beginning of 2, the century is 1 year old.  At the beginning of year 3, the century is 2 years old, at the beginning of year 4, the century is 3 years old and so forth. Following on, at the first day of year 100, the century is 99 years old.

It works for every century, so at the beginning of 2016, the century is 15 years old.

No one's mad at you, luv.  

Boru

Aw now I understand why there's been so much confusion. When I ponder your math, I see that you are correct. At the same time, I see that I am correct also. How can that be? The catch that I see now is that what you're saying works until we get to year ten when the second decade begins on the first day of year 10, not year 11. It's the addition of the zero which we didn't have in the transition between B.C.E. and C.E. This is why the 1900a were the 20th century.