[LEAPSECS] BBC radio Crowd Science

[Steve Summit]

Warner wrote:
> I think this is the crux of my problem with Tom's answer to my first
> leap second question. We have two times, that are obviously different
> that when subtracted produce 0 as the answer. x-y = 0 should only be
> true when x and y are the same. But we get that answer when they are
> different.

So what about x = 100 degrees Celsius, y = 212 degrees Fahrenheit?
Two obviously different numbers.  What should the difference be?

This is a suggestion, not a proof.  The analogy between
Celsius-versus-Fahrenheit and TAI-versus-UTC is not at all
perfect.  And we're dancing around between proofs from first
principles, versus demonstrations based on what makes the math
easier.  But I'm afraid the "the numbers are different, so the
difference can't be zero" argument is not as compelling as you'd
like.