how is relative age different from the actual date of an event?

Relative age refers to the order in which events occurred in relation to each other, while the actual date of an event refers to the specific calendar date when the event occurred. For example, if event A happened before event B, we would say that event A has a relative age that is older than event B. However, the actual date of when event A occurred may be unknown, and the actual date of when event B occurred may be known.