Re: Y2K
Alan Cox (alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk)
Mon, 22 Jun 1998 15:55:54 +0100 (BST)
> > by the regulatory authorities (NIST in the USA)? I understand that
> > the number of days in a year has been adjusted by convention, to be
> > some number that is exactly represented. The result is adjusted to
> > be, on the average, correct by use of the leap-second.
>
> There's a mistake in there somewhere. The leap second adjusts for
> variations in the length of a day (ie the time it takes for the earth
> to spin around its own axis). It cannot adjust for the length
> of a year (ie the time it takes (in days!) to orbit the sun once).
Its also needed to keep a "year" the right number of fixed length seconds
long. Leap seconds depend on the time system you use. In some time
systems a second varies in length as a fraction of a day - where a day
is defined as one rotation of the earth.
I'd suggest anyone who cares about this spends two weeks on comp.protocols.ntp
Alan
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