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RetortsAre You Ready?The Gregorian calendar that we are stuck with at present decrees that there shall be a leap year (of 366 days instead of the usual 365 days) every fourth year except centenary years not divisible by 400. Thus 1900 was a common year and 2000 AD will be a leap year. Are you confused?! This definition exceeds the astronomical year by a whopping 26 seconds or 1/2 minute per year. However, with 1999 knowledge, it is elementary to devise a quicker calendar which is 50 times more accurate and completes its cycle in 128 years! A quarter day minus best estimate of astronomical year (5h 48' 46") equals 11 m 14s. How often does this annual deficit accumulate to 1 day? Answer 128.1899 years. So 128 years is therefore the required interval between leap year adjustments. My calendar will have leap year every fourth year except years evenly divisible by 128. Instead of "problem" years 1900 and 2000 at 100 and 400 year intervals, my (unusual) common years will be only multiples of 128 years: 1792, 1920, 2048 and 2176. Thirty-one leap years per 128 years gives 365 days 5h 48' 45". This is less than 1 second error per year and moreover this trivial error is further cancelled by leap second (the effect attributed to drift in the length of mean solar day). It is one million times easier to compute! But it will not come until the world is due to end. Donald S McDonald, Wellington |
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