Decimal Birthday

A decimal birthday is celebrated using the decimal (base ten) numeral system.

Decimal birthdays can be celebrated using any time unit (years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds), however the most common form of celebration uses days. The main form of celebration falls on the occurrence of every 1000th day of a person's life. The standard practise is to count the day of birth as day zero and then count upwards from that day onwards.

This form of celebration has become more popular since the widespread use of computers and the internet which have made the calculation of the decimal birthday easier to make. However, the celebration of a decimal birthday has some traditional significance in some cultures, for example in Korea it is common to celebrate the Bek-Il or the 100th day of life [http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/cel/birthday_celebrations.htm] . This tradition was born from a time of high infant mortality when many babies would die before three months of age. As a result the 100th day is a celebration of life as the baby has survived the difficult first 100 days of life.

In western society the celebration of the 10,000th day of life, although still practiced by a minority, is a phenomenon that has been recorded in several countries including the United Kingdom and Australia. The 10,000th day of life occurs between the 27th and 28th year of life and as a consequence can be noticed by young professionals, especially those in industries that rely on a strong mathematical knowledge.

Decimal birthdays should not be confused with decimal time which instead of applying the decimal system to current measures of time (days, hours, minutes etc) instead changes the measurement of time itself into a decimal system.

External links

* [http://www.decimalbirthday.com Decimal Birthday]
* [http://www.tkday.com TKDay]