Talk:List of presidents of the United States by age

Joe Biden’s 80th Birthday

I just made a revision on this page saying that Joe Biden became the first octogenarian president in history. After this I checked the edit history to see what other people had put and I found out a couple of people had already put this information before yet they had all been removed. The person who removed this information said it wasn’t important and if I feel like it should be there I should put it in the talk page so I am. DarthRoxy (talk) 04:51, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for starting a discussion. I believe statement regarding Biden being the first octogenarian incumbent POTUS to be tangential information in this list article. That is why I reverted its inclusion. His age is relevant to this article with regard to his one day being the oldest at the time of leaving office, and so I have noted his age there. His age is important here, the distinction of being the first 80 year old incumbent is not. Drdpw (talk) 05:09, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

Ok, totally. I don’t care enough about this to argue so I’m fine with what you said. DarthRoxy (talk) November 21, 2022 at 9:15 AM — Preceding undated comment added 17:15, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

I agree with you. Given the paragraph about oldest/youngest, youngest elected, youngest ex-President etc, it's difficult to make the case that "first octogenarian" isn't relevant while "resigned from office" somehow is, the latter having nothing to do with the topic at all. 192.34.130.214 (talk) 22:15, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

The common responses I am seeing to Google inquiries regarding "oldest president" falsely list Reagan. The fact that Biden was OLDER upon his inauguration day than Reagan ever was during the ENTIRETY of his two terms in office, conclusively demonstrates that Biden is the oldest President in US history, unless the age measurement is compared SELECTIVELY, such as by comparing the age reached upon the final day in office. Presently, the age of Biden upon his last day in office is unknown and therefore this fact is used to skirt the objective truth of the matter. I find no justification for arbitrarily preferring the person's last day in office over the first day in office or any other day served while in office. Marginally, a case could be argued that the last day served should be used as the measuring date simply because the person is naturally older on that date. However, if the original question's meaning is understood to be that of the oldest age a person who served as President reached in that same person's lifetime regardles of the age reached while serving in office, that person would be Jimmy Carter. Just as Biden increases the highest age in office every day that currently passes, Jimmy Carter does the same for the measurement of longest lived person who had been President. Currently in hospice care, one day Jimmy Carter will establish the "high water mark" record for that age measurement. The fact that is yet to be precisely calculated, does not in any way diminish him or his name as being the proper and correct answer to the question for who among the list of US Presidents lived the longest life.

My suggestion would be to rewrite the entire article to clearly and concisely give the answer to the question with each and every different meaning and interpretation thereof as a separate item. Simple questions often have complicated answers that are frequently misused, misunderstood or outright falsified for both innocent and nefarious purposes. For example, if the question is, "what is the value of pi?" the answer given to a 1st grade math student would and should be much different than the answer given to a PhD candidate student whose area of research was sociology and merely needed a different number of digits than was supplied in an existing scholarly publication. Wikipedia articles and google search results are not good places for needless ambiguity when current artificial intelligence technology still has serious and real limitations. I do assert that Biden should be the proper and better answer to the simple form of the question. The best reason I can give for that answer over the aforementioned Reagan is that in any side-by-side linear comparison of the two, regardless of chosen measurement criteria to decide the question, Biden is older than Reagan was at the same point in his life, career, or office status. 65.129.149.226 (talk) 01:26, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Removing post-presidency timespan and lifespan for those who are living

I don't think it makes sense to have a post-presidency timespan and lifespan for those who are living. For it to remain accurate, the page would require daily updates. I propose removing the dates for those who are still living and replacing it with "(living)" similar to the death dates. Jaredjjj (talk) 05:47, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Looking closer, I see that those times are actually automatically generated, but I still don't think they should be there. Having a time for the age in the lifespan column (for example) implies that they died at that age. I think it should be changed to "(living)" until they pass. Jaredjjj (talk) 05:53, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Having a timespan in the post-presidency and lifespan columns shows how much time has passed from "then" until "now" for those who are living. Drdpw (talk) 04:19, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

Errant "Notes"

Item (d) under "Notes" reads: "Cleveland was president for two non-consecutive terms; this is his post-presidential retirement, after his second term (1897–1908)." The Presidents in those years were William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Cleveland's second term ran from 1893 to 1897. 192.34.130.214 (talk) 22:08, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

1897-1908 is the set of years of his post-presidential retirement, not his second term. 217.211.43.202 (talk) 09:47, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

I have modified the note to alleviate the confusion. Drdpw (talk) 17:54, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

'Former' presidents

Hi, I'm not American, & I don't mean to offend anyone, but all former presidents are referred to as presidents, without 'former' being noted. Not all presidents can be the incumbent. Would it be prudent to note all former presidents as such? It means quite a few changes in this article though. This is entirely up to you guys. I have to add I have no issue for this article to stay as is. Thanks 120.16.58.126 (talk) 00:17, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

December edit request

Is it ok to reformulate some sentences to make them appear more of a lingual and grammatical unity? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.47.13.197 (talk) 20:31, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

The lifespan died list is not sorted correctly

Washington is in a different place than he should be on the list Powerofegg (talk) 14:33, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

It was actually the sorting of John Adams's entry that was incorrect, causing Washington's entry to appear as such. I used an "addkey" parameter with the Adams entry, rather than leaving a deprecated "hidden sort key" template, which seems to have corrected the problem. Thanks —ADavidB 14:53, 18 March 2024 (UTC)