[LEAPSECS] An example

[Ian Batten]

On 03 Nov 10, at 0924, Clive D.W. Feather wrote:


> Ian Batten said:

>> I seem to recall that there's some debate as to the leap-year status of 4000CE

> 

> Not in either the UK:

> 

> | Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, 


I didn't mean in legislative terms, I meant in "keeping the equinoxes where they are in the calendar terms" terms.  Wikipedia (yeah, I know) says:


> The marginal difference of 0.000125 days between the Gregorian calendar average year and the actual year means that, in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it is now. But in 8,000 years, the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount that cannot be accurately predicted (see below). Therefore, the current Gregorian calendar suffices for practical purposes, and the correction suggested by John Herschel of making 4000 a non-leap year will probably not be necessary.


While this:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1511/why-do-we-have-leap-years

mutters about 4000 _not_ being a leap year, although as you say there's no legislation covering it.  I doubt that many parliaments could find time to worry about events 1990 years hence!

ian