Re: [LEAPSECS] The real problem with leap seconds

From: John Cowan <cowan_at_CCIL.ORG>
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 13:06:13 -0500

Ed Davies scripsit:

> (There's a small difference in practice in that the UTC to
> TAI conversion requires a lookup table which is not known
> very far into the future whereas the Gregorian calendar is
> defined algorithmically for all time.)

Well, yes. But that's a matter of verbal labels. The Gregorian calendar
extends to all future time: what is not known is the date on which it
will be replaced in civil use by a further refinement. We know we will
need one eventually, both because of the current annual discrepancy of
about 27 seconds between the Gregorian and tropical years, and because
of future changes in the length of the tropical year.

--
John Cowan  cowan_at_ccil.org  www.reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
If a traveler were informed that such a man [as Lord John Russell] was
leader of the House of Commons, he may well begin to comprehend how the
Egyptians worshiped an insect.  --Benjamin Disraeli
Received on Sat Jan 07 2006 - 10:06:27 PST

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