The Leaping for Joy Handbook |
All you ever wanted to know about Leap Years
and some humor thrown in for good measure!
| [1navmain.htm] | It is getting closer to that big day of Jan 01, 2000 and I thought I'd put to rest, a few questions on this Leap Year business. Leap Year all started back in the days of Julius Caesar. Somewhere around the year 46 BC, the "Julian Calendar" was officially authorized and it was assumed that the year had 365 1/4 days, with a 366-day leap year added every fourth year. Then in 730 AD, an Anglo-Saxon monk (the Venerable Bede), calculated that the Julian year was 11 minutes and 14 seconds too long, an error of about one day every 128 years. Nobody thought it was a big deal and were quite happy to leave things as they were. But then in 1582, the accumulated error was now estimated to throw the Calendar off by at least 10 days. So Pope Gregory XIII decreed that Oct. 5, 1582 would become Oct. 15, 1582. A Pope had a lot of power back then and could do things like that at the drop of a hat. |
As this error was not going to go away, (and we lose about three days every 400 years), it was decided that future adjustments would need to be made. So those years ending in "00" would be known as common years rather than leap years - except those divisible by 400.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
Most years ending in "00" are not leap years, only those divisible by 400 are.
The idea of leap years is to keep the calendar in line with those pesky year lengths of 365.25 days.
Let's see who was paying attention in Math class, shall we? There are three rules:
1. The rule of 4 leap year if evenly divisible by 4
2. The rule of 100 the rule of 4 applies unless the year is divisible by 100
3. The rule of 400 the rule of 4 applies unless the year is divisible by 100 "and" divisible by 400
So, every four years there's a leap year, unless - its a multiple of 100 in which case it isn't, unless - it is a multiple of 400, in which case it is
But wait... According to an article at Discovery Canada there's more to it than meets the eye. "Different countries have different rules about leap years. In most countries that have the Gregorian calendar, there will be leap years in 2000, 2400 and 2800. Greece, which adopted this calendar only in 1920, opted for a different (and more accurate) rule for determining leap years: any year that, when divided by 900, leaves a remainder of 200 or 600 is a leap year. So... When the rest of the world is enjoying a February 29 in the year 2800, Greece will already be on to March 1. But don't worry: they'll catch up again in 2900."
Alright. Pencils down and pass your papers up to the front. Those of you that correctly answered the year 2000 as being a Leap Year in some Countries but not others, and is "not" the start of the next Millennium in every Country, can leave class early.
Still find this a little (or a lot) confusing, Click Here for more information. Learn the meaning of the word "Bissextile" and why you will soon be able to amaze yourself - and your friends, with what it means.
If you can stand yet another kick at the Y2K cat, then drag up some millennium-bug comic relief.
Original copy came from World Wide Information Outlet - your source of FREEWare
Content online.
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Rob has been around computers for 20 years and is still learning. Taking enjoyment from helping people with computer problems, he also provides Website Hosting and Creation - http://www.potentproducts.com
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