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The number 365.2422 is the current length of the "mean tropical year", but the Gregorian calendar reformers weren't trying to approximate that (I'm not sure that the concept of mean tropical year was known in 1582). Since one of the main motivations of the Gregorian reform was to correct the date of Easter, and Easter is defined in terms of the vernal equinox, they were trying to approximate the vernal equinox year, or time interval separating vernal equinoxes, which is not exactly the same (the equinox interval is mentioned prominently near the beginning of our tropical year article). According to Tropical year#Different tropical year definitions, the current length of the vernal equinox year is 365.242374 days, and this number is more relevant for judging the accuracy of the Gregorian calendar than 365.2422. The devisers of the Revised Julian Calendar ignored this when they made the average year length be 365.242 days (a disimprovement with respect to the vernal equinox year -- they were more desperate to show their independence from Catholics by having their calendar not be exactly the same, than thinking about the historical function of the calendar with respect to Christianity). AnonMoos ( talk) 09:49, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
:Time for a WP:rs then. How accurately could astronomers of the day measure the tropical year? And the reformers had to consider what would be acceptable and explicable to a substantially illiterate and inumerate "flock". The algorithm is good enough. IMO, the current statement in the lead is also good enough for our purposes: the "perfect" is described in detail in the body. We know that the orbit of planet earth is not a perfect metronome, so approximations will always be needed. For almost all of the people for almost all of the time, the niceties are entirely background radiation. --
𝕁𝕄𝔽 (
talk)
10:14, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
more closely approximating the 365.2422-day 'tropical' or 'solar' year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun.were rephrased as
more closely approximating the true duration of the time between vernal equinoxes, which is a little less than than the 365.25 days in the Julian calendar.I think we can say that without breaking WP:OR (and the present lead doesn't even say what the Julian figure is, so needs adding).
I decided to be bold and give effect to this discussion so that the lead would read
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world.ref It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years differently so as to make the average calendar year 365.2425 days long, which is a little less than than the 365.25 days in the Julian calendar but which more closely approximates the true duration of the time between vernal equinoxes.
but that introduces duplication in close succession, because the next para (after stating the rule) reads
There were two reasons to establish the Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar assumed incorrectly that the average solar year is exactly 365.25 days long, an overestimate of a little under one day per century, and thus has a leap year every four years without exception. The Gregorian reform shortened the average (calendar) year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes.
Would it be too terse to delete There were two reasons to establish the Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar assumed incorrectly that the average solar year is exactly 365.25 days long, an overestimate of a little under one day per century, and thus has a leap year every four years without exception.
? --
𝕁𝕄𝔽 (
talk)
13:26, 18 October 2022 (UTC)
There were two reasons to establish the Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar overestimated the length of the year by a little under one day per century, and thus has a leap year every four years without exception.Better? -- 𝕁𝕄𝔽 ( talk) 15:06, 18 October 2022 (UTC)
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Would it be better to move a bunch of the stuff in "Description" into the lead section, and move what's now in the lead section to a "History" section? The lead section right now really assumes you already are very familiar with the Gregorian calendar, which reads a bit odd to me. AapeliV ( talk) 00:32, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
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Please remove this sentence:
Because the date of Easter is a function – the computus – of the date of the (northern hemisphere) spring equinox
and add this one:
Because the date of Easter is a function – the computus – of the date of the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere
While it's slightly longer, it flows better without the parenthetical phrase. 192.180.91.15 ( talk) 11:48, 4 February 2023 (UTC)
t
c
12:24, 4 February 2023 (UTC)It probably should be made more clear that the Gregorian calendar reform did not realign the dates with the beginning of the Julian calendar, but rather realigned the dates to the Julian dates that the Catholic Church were use to using for Easter calculations in the 3rd century (already off by a couple days). Proleptic Gregorian Jan 1, 10CE is not the same day as Julian Jan 1, 10CE (and definitely off for dates before 4CE as the Julian calendar's leap years were being incorrectly applied for its first few decades, only fully corrected by the end of the first decade CE). — al-Shimoni ( talk) 16:52, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
I’m not Jewish! BUT why isn’t the Jewish Calendar listed in the list of calendars, which is the true calendar the world should be operating on⁉️🧐🧐🧐 78.149.113.1 ( talk) 14:18, 1 January 2024 (UTC)
One of the tables shows 153 BC as the date the Roman Empire adopted 1 January as New Year's Day. There was NO Roman Empire in 153 BC. The Roman Empire did not exist until 27 BC. when Augustus became the first Emperor.
Julius Caesar had not even been born yet in 153 BC, which was VERY much within the days of the Roman REPUBLIC not the Roman empire.
2601:645:C57F:74A0:71FE:65DD:4352:40EF ( talk) 01:50, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
no need to say something repeats itself once and only once, no wonder people stay away from this "encyclopedia"... https://www.pcworld.com/article/525199/the_15_biggest_wikipedia_blunders.html WIKIPEDIA ENORMOUS MISTAKES, OF COURSE - THE USUAL nbcnews.com/id/wbna32588168 197.204.39.77 ( talk) 08:30, 29 May 2024 (UTC)
flounder jimbo Wales claims he trusts his administrators, will not question their "reasoning" but they have no sound reasoning at all and wikipedia became nobody's land,except fantasy world to senior editors who complement each other,but newbies get burned on the spot...tsk tsk tsk..
Calendar cycles repeat completely every 400 years, which equals 146,097 days.[e][f] Of these 400 years, 303 are regular years of 365 days and 97 are leap years of 366 days. A mean calendar year is 365+ 97 / 400
days = 365.2425 days, or 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds.[g] During intervals that do not contain any century common years (such as 1800, 1900 and 2100), the calendar repeats every 28 years, during which 29 February will fall on each of the seven days of the week once and only once. All other dates of the year fall on each day exactly four times, each day of the week having gaps of 6 years, 5 years, 6 years, and 11 years, in that order.
where is proof of 5 years, repetition happens every 6 years.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.207.170.241 ( talk • contribs) 08:34, 29 May 2024 (UTC)