Counting - Inclusive Counting

Inclusive Counting

Inclusive counting is usually encountered when counting days in a calendar. Normally when counting "8" days from Sunday, Monday will be day 1, Tuesday day 2, and the following Monday will be the eighth day. When counting "inclusively," the Sunday (the start day) will be day 1 and therefore the following Sunday will be the eighth day. For example, the French phrase for "fortnight" is en quinze (in 15 ), and similar words are present in Greek (δεκαπενθήμερο, dekapenthímero), Spanish (quincena) and Portuguese (quinzena) - whereas "a fortnight" derives from "a fourteen-night", as the archaic "a sennight" does from "a seven-night". This practice appears in other calendars as well; in the Roman calendar the nones (meaning "nine") is 8 days before the ides; and in the Christian calendar Quinquagesima (meaning 50) is 49 days before Easter Sunday.

The Jewish people also counted days inclusively. For instance, Jesus announced he would die and resurrect "on the third day," i.e. two days later. Scholars most commonly place his crucifixion on a Friday afternoon and his resurrection on Sunday before sunrise, spanning three different days but a period of around 36–40 hours.

Musical terminology also uses inclusive counting of intervals between notes of the standard scale: going up one note is a second interval, going up two notes is a third interval, etc., and going up seven notes is an octave.

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