Why Do We Have a Leap Year? opus 314
| 29 February 2024 1305 Hours | | Science, History, Technology |
Why do we have a Leap Year every four years?
The Romans in 45 BC had this figured out!
(Julius Caesar borrowed this idea from the Egyptians.)
They realized that to maintain the calendar (Julian),
In sync with the rotation of the planet,
They needed an extra day every fourth year! --
A perfect year is actually, more accurately, 365.242190 days.
Thus the added day in February every fourth year.
But, Caesar overestimated the solar year by about eleven minutes,
Leading to an overcorrection by about eight days each millenium.
Pope Gregory XIII later addressed this by adding leap days in years divided by four,
UNLESS the year is ALSO divisible by 100. Fine tuning further,
A leap day is STILL ADDED in years divisible by 400!
So you now know perhaps more clearly than most other citizens,
The precise formula as to how the calendar maintains winter in winter!