Why do they call it leap year?
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Have you ever wondered why we have a leap year? A leap year is a year that has an extra day, February 29th. The purpose of the extra day is to keep our calendar synchronized with the Earth’s orbit around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.24 days to go around the sun. This is why we have a leap year every four years. However, this is not a perfect solution, as the Earth’s orbit is not exactly 365.24 days. As a result, we have what is called a “leap second” every so often to account for this discrepancy.
In the Gregorian calendar, most years have 365 days. But every 4 years, we have a leap year. That’s when February has 29 days instead of the usual 28.
Why do we have a leap year?
It’s all thanks to the Earth’s orbit around the sun. A year is actually 365.24 days long. But it’s more convenient for us to break it down into 365 days.
Every 4 years, we make up for the inexact number by adding an extra day, February 29th. This keeps our calendar in sync with the seasons.
Leap years occur more frequently than you might think. In fact, we just had one in 2016. But the next one isn’t until 2020. So if you were born on February 29th, you only get to celebrate your birthday every 4 years!
I’m sure you’ve all heard of leap year – but have you ever wondered why it’s called that? After a bit of research, I discovered that there are a few theories out there. One story goes that an ancient Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, introduced the leap year in order to align the calendar with the solar year. Another theory is that the name comes from the Old English word for spring, which is ‘leap’.
So there you have it! A bit of history behind the name of leap year. Do you have any other theories? I’d love to hear them!