The relativity of years

Just a short philosophy post today.

I always remember summers seeming to last forever as a kid. As I've gotten older it seems the years fly by. I decided a long time ago it had something to do with the proportion of time you had already lived.

When you're 5, a year is equal to 1/5 the life you've already lived, so it seems relatively long. When you're 50, then a year is just 1/50 of what you've already lived and so by comparison seems much shorter.

A history professor I had told me that was a mathematician's answer, perhaps meaning it wasn't a very appealing explanation. Personally, though, I always got a kick out of thinking of it this way.