Why is every fourth year called a 'leap year?'

mochyn

As every year is about 365 and a quarter days,we save the quarters to the 4th year and therefore we leap forward Sep 18 03, 7:21 PM

mochyn

this explains it better http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year Sep 18 03, 7:23 PM

sequoianoir

Quote "we save the quarters to the 4th year and therefore we leap forward " Surely we leap "backwards" ??????? When "tomorrow" would "normally" be March 1st (today Feb 28th) we "delay" it by a day inserting Feb 29. If we "leapt forwards" March 1st would be skipped and "tommorow" would be March 2nd, wouldn't it ? Sep 18 03, 7:29 PM

Hamlet.

Divide the 365-day typical year by 52 weeks. You will see that there is one additional day. Thus, in nonleap years, if a fixed-date holiday, such as Christmas, was held on a Tuesday, one knew that the next year it would fall on a Wednesday. But in a leap year, the festival would fall two days after the previous year's. This skipping of a day is the "leap" in leap year. Sep 18 03, 11:46 PM

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Why wasn't 1900 a leap year? Why does February have "28 days clear and 29 in each leap year" while other months have 30 or 31, and as a corollary, is the year 2100 a leap year? If you are born on February 29 of a leap year, when is your birthday? Why is it traditional for women to propose on Valentine's Day in a leap year?

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