Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
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From: dmurdoch@watstat.waterloo.edu (Duncan Murdoch)
Subject: Re: Leap year function
Message-ID: <1991Jun10.202235.28490@maytag.waterloo.edu>
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Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <a4Dy31w164w@allanon.UUCP> <baillie.676098437@mullauna> <4331@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1991 20:22:35 GMT
Lines: 17

In article <4331@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM> acm@Sun.COM (Andrew MacRae) writes:
>
>It all goes to show just how fluid our calendars are.  England dropped
>those 11 days in 1752.  Other countries dropped them at other times.  Those of
>you out there trying to create the 'perfect' formula for calculating leap year
>should remember to take into account what country the calculation is for.

One other weird complication:  before England made the calendar change, years
ran from March to February, not January to December.  This makes it really
hard to know exactly when certain people (e.g. Thomas Bayes) were born:
if they died after the calendar change, but were said to have been born
in February 1701, was that before or after March 1701?  And, more to
the point of the subject heading (but still not much to do with Pascal; 
sorry), do programs calculating leap years take into account that there was
no February in 1752 in England?  (Or was there?)

Duncan Murdoch