Question

A book written in 1980 states that the peak of the last ice age occurred 18,000 years ago. Therefore, in 2012, the peak had occurred _____ years ago.

Answer 1

20,000 years ago

Answer 2

The correct answer is - 18,032 years ago.

To get to the correct answer we only need to take the given number of how much years ago the peak of the last age happened, which is 18,000, and than add the number of years between 1980 and 2012, which is 32 years, so we get to the number of 18,032. Still, even if this is the correct number of years, in the scientific circles, it will be very rarely used, because for the geological time spans they usually take a whole/rounded number, so it is much more likely that 18,000 years ago will still be used.