Consultor Eletrônico

The year 2000 is a leap year

The year 2000 is a leap year, and Feb 29, 2000 is a valid date.
These are the leap year rules:

Rule 1: Every year that is divisible by 4 is a leap year
EXCEPT....
Rule 2: Years divisible by 100, which are *not* leap years
EXCEPT...
Rule 3: Years divisible by 400, which are leap years.

So, 1996 is a leap year (by rule 1)
1900 is not a leap year (by rule 2)
2000 is a leap year (by rule 3)

Customers have pointed out that the Encyclopedia Britannica's
webpage reference states that the year 2000 is *not* a leap year
because "every year evenly divisible by 4000 (i.e., 16,000, 24,000,
etc.) is made a common (not leap) year."

This is incorrect. The FAQ at the Year 2000 website (www.year2000.com)
calls this a myth, the popularity of which "seems to derive from the
fact that the average length of the year in the Gregorian calendar
is approximately 26 seconds longer than the tropical or solar year.
This difference amounts to one day in a little over 3300 years, or
about three days in 10,000 years. Some experts have proposed rules
similar to the mythical rule to correct for this difference. But no
government, standards organization, or other authoritative body has
adopted such a rule."

Another myth about the year 2000 is that it will be a "double leap
year" or "super leap year". This is not the case. The FAQ at the
Year 2000 website states that "the year 2000 will be a leap year like
any other...."

Anyone seeking further information is referred to the website URL
given above, and to the Usenet newsgroup comp.software.year-2000.
It is also possible to search Usenet news for references to the
year 2000 leap-year issue by going to www.dejanews.com and conducting
a "power search" on the phrase "leap year 2000". While the opinions
stated in newsgroups can vary in their sense of authority, the
predominant opinion in all the groups captured in such a search is
that the year 2000 is indeed a leap year.

Progress Software Technical Support Note # 16115