Question

To solve problems about spans of time that include B.C. and A.D. dates, you would need to use which numbers?

Answer 1

The correct numbers to use in solving problems about spans of time like B.C. and A.D. should be “integers”.

Integers are whole numbers (not a fractional number or not a decimal number) which can take a value of negative, zero, or positive number. Example of integers would be -1, 0 and 1.

In calculations, the time period would be on the x-axis. Since B.C. and A.D. are two different spans of time, therefore in the calculations, the date of BC should be negative (negative x-axis) while the date of AD should be positive (positive x-axis). This would place the origin as the common reference.