Worked examples
Two examples
Example 1
Socrates died in Athens in 399 BCE. Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE.How many years passed between the two?A. 722 years
B. 76 years
C. 721 years
D. 75 years
B. 76 years
C. 721 years
D. 75 years
- First ask: are the dates on the same side of the year 1, or on opposite sides? Both are BCE, so they are on the same side.
- BCE years count down as they go back, like the numbers on a countdown. So the bigger number, 399 BCE, is the earlier year, and 323 BCE came later.
- When both dates are BCE (or both are CE), nothing crosses the year 1. Just subtract the smaller number from the larger: 399 − 323 = 76. That is B.
- A, 722, adds the two numbers. Adding is the rule only when one date is BCE and the other is CE.
- C, 721, adds and then subtracts one: the rule for crossing the line, used where nothing crosses it.
- D, 75, subtracts and then takes off one more. The one year comes off only across the line, because of the missing year zero.
Answer: B
Example 2
Julius Caesar was killed in 44 BCE. The volcano Vesuvius buried the town of Pompeii in 79 CE.How many years passed between the two?A. 35 years
B. 123 years
C. 122 years
D. 222 years
B. 123 years
C. 122 years
D. 222 years
- First ask: same side of the year 1, or opposite sides? 44 BCE is before the year 1, and 79 CE is after it. They are on opposite sides.
- Think of the odometer picture from the lesson. From 44 BCE, count forward to the start of the count, then keep going to 79 CE. The two distances add: 44 + 79 = 123.
- But there is no year zero. The year 1 BCE is followed right away by the year 1 CE. Adding the two numbers counts one year that does not exist, so subtract one: 44 + 79 − 1 = 122. That is C.
- B, 123, is the answer the test will offer beside the right one: it forgets that there is no year zero.
- A, 35, subtracts (79 − 44). Across the line, one date counts down and the other counts up, so the distances add.
- D, 222, is the right method with an adding slip of one hundred. Check the arithmetic on paper.
Answer: C
Where this is taught: Skills Quiz 4, Timelines and dates: First, the idea · Skills Quiz 4: the worked example · Skills Diagnostic, Part 4
In your Kaplan book: Unit 3, Chapter 1, Lesson 6: Interpret Data and Statistics · Map of the Terrain, topic 4: Timelines and dates
The drill
Ten questions
How many:
Read what is in the box first. Then tap your answer; a few questions ask you to choose words from a drop-down instead, the way the GED test does. Press Check my answers at the bottom.Read what is in the box first. Circle your answer; where there are brackets, circle the choice that fits. The answer key, with the reasoning, is on the last page.