# What are the smallest and largest numbers that you instantly recognize as years? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 9, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677 "2018-10-09T00:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/21 "2018-10-11T11:12:56Z")
Earliest : 1066 or perhaps 1054, both mentioned above. Latest : 2030 ? Anything after date is too far away for me to really see it as a date, although 2525 is a fun example. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/22 "2018-10-11T11:23:02Z")
Lowest: 1054, the year of the Crab Supernova. Highest: 3001, from the Clarke story. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/23 "2018-10-11T12:01:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > … Back in my day, years started with 19. Time was, I did not expect to live to see the century turn over. I very seldom write checks, but when I do, I have to cross out the ‘19’ pre-printed in the date field. I recall seeing matching tombstones with a ‘19’ pre-carved … and with the surviving spouse outliving his die-by date. :smack: The only pre-1066 date I’ve memorized is Charlemagne’s coronation in 800 — a round number easy to remember. I’ve wondered if the off-by-four error in Anno Domini was due to Charlemagne’s insistence on a round number for his coronation year! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/24 "2018-10-11T15:25:48Z")
When I see “44” my brain adds “BC” to get the year Julius Caesar was assassinated. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/25 "2018-10-12T08:01:22Z")
When I see “753”, I automatically parse it as the (mythological) year of Rome’s founding (BCE, that is). I can’t think of any upper maximum, although anything of the form 20xx I’d recognize as a year. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/28 "2018-10-12T17:31:23Z")
> [@Eyes\_of\_Seven](#): > > I easily see the numbers 1350 to 2099 as being years before I see them as random numbers. I don’t easily see the number 1 as referring to a year even though there was a 1 A.D., and 1 B.C… I also don’t easily see there being years beyond 2099 A.D… I wonder what the standard range of this phenomenon is; are there people who see 48,512 or 318,999 as being years? Probably 1492. Probably nothing past the 21st century would I “instantly” associate as a year. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/29 "2018-10-12T17:35:53Z")
1066 Battle of Hastings was so drilled into me growing up, that I can’t see anything else when I see those numbers. (Not quite true–I lived somewhere for a couple of years where my postal code was 1066, so it did displace some of the Hastings associations over time.) I can’t think of any numbers before that with such a strong association. Highest is much tougher. The 2525 mentioned before works for me. Maybe 3001 from the Arthur C. Clarke series. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/30 "2018-10-12T17:56:07Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The only pre-1066 date I’ve memorized is Charlemagne’s coronation in 800 — a round number easy to remember. I’ve wondered if the off-by-four error in Anno Domini was due to Charlemagne’s insistence on a round number for his coronation year! 😃 There are plenty of dates prior to 1066 that I know. But if I saw 800 written on a page, my first thought would be of it as a number rather than as a year. Think of it as Jeopardy. If the screen shows 800, my question will be _“What is two times four hundred?”_ not _“What year was Charlemagne coronated?”_ But if the screen shows 1066, my question will be _“What year did the Normans invade England?”_ not _“What it two times five hundred and thirty-three?”_ ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677/31 "2018-10-12T18:16:46Z")
-4004 10,191 10,191 was the year the Atreides moved to Arrakis. Have no idea if it correlates with Earth years, however. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-smallest-and-largest-numbers-that-you-instantly-recognize-as-years/822677.md?page=1)