2016年2月28日 星期日

Why Do We Have Leap Days? 

Usually, there are only four Mondays in February. But this year’s February is weird*: It’ll have five Mondays.

Why?

It’s leap year!

A lot of folks get confused on why exactly we even have leap years. The answer is simple.

Wait! No it’s not! It’s actually a mess. But together with the good folks at Slate I have tried to simplify it for you in video form:

See? Now, in that video I skipped a few things, and rounded the numbers a lot to make it easier to grasp. If you want the details — and it’s math, so it’s fun, and you do — wait until tomorrow, and I’ll have an article up with lots of details. You’ll be glad you have an extra day this month to figure it all out.

* You know what’s weirder than having five Mondays in February? Having that first “r” in “February”.



from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1Sa0D6m
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