At 10:54 AM 7/30/98 , Darwin Hawkins wrote:
>
> Just an interesting tidbit. Did you know that the year 2000 is
>not a leapyear? Our calendar correction of an extra day every 4 years is
>not quite accurate.
Darwin, you've got the gist of it right but not the practice.
I think you'll find the rule is this: Every year divisible by four is a
leap year, except that years also evenly divisible by 100 but not divisible
by 400 are not leap years. Thus, the year 2000, being divisible by 400, IS
a leap year, as were the year 1600 (*) and as will be the year 2400. Test
this out by looking for the integer representation of 2/28/2000 and
3/1/2000 on your computer. They will differ by two, because it is a leap
year. Were it not a leap year, the days would be contiguous, and they
would differ by one.
On the other hand, the year 1900 was not a leap year. Anybody who tries to
move their records back to the year 1900 will be in a new heap of trouble.
Also, since the day 01/01/1900 is represented by the number 00002 in some
computer programs, there could be a question as to how a computer will
handle negative dates in such a situation - which 1998 and 1999 would then
become - but let's not confuse things any more than has already been done.
Or do you want me to mention this bit of history: the statement (*) is
misleading, because in the year 1600 the Julian calendar was still in use,
and the Julian calendar had all years evenly divisible by 4 as leap years,
divisible by 100 or no. When the Gregorian calendar was instituted, some
adjustments were made. (Just what these adjustments were is beyond the
scope of this course.) Thus, I am told, the date of George Washington's
birth is shown correctly in the family Bible as February 11 per the Julian
calendar, but we all know it as February 22, which is correct per the
Gregorian calendar.
Could you imagine what problems they would have had were there computers in
the days that they changed over from Julian to Gregorian?
Art
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Arthur Hirsch {} [log in to unmask] {} Lewisville, TX {} 972-434-2377
(nickname on instant mail, ICQ, and chat programs is cutterson)
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Always Remember This: Happiness Is Right, So Choose Happiness
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