Leap Year Q & A

Why do we have leap years and leap days? Why in February?

Why do we have leap years?

A leap year, where an extra day is added to the end of February every four years, is due to the solar system's disparity with our calendar.

A complete orbit of the earth around the sun takes exactly 365.2422 days to complete, but our calendar uses 365 days.

So leap seconds - and leap years - are added as means of keeping our clocks (and calendars) in sync with the Earth and its seasons.

But this solution causes another problem which is addressed later in this article.

Why does the extra day fall in February?

Blame this on the ego of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.

Under Julius Caesar, February had 30 days and the month named after him - July - had 31. August had only 29 days.

When Caesar Augustus became Emperor he added two days to 'his' month to make August the same as July.

Why does the woman propose on a leap year?

Sandra Bullock proposes to Ryan Reynolds in 'The Proposal' Photo: REX

One theory is that the custom dates back to the 5th Century, when, legend has it, an Irish nun called St Bridget complained to St Patrick that women had to wait too long for their suitors to propose. St Patrick then supposedly gave women the chance to ask the question every four years.

According to research conducted by Beefeater, 20 per cent of women said they would like to propose to their partner. However, more than half of men (59 per cent) would love their girlfriends to get down on one knee.

Does a leap year happen every four years?

No. The year 2000 was a leap year, but the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. There's a leap year every year that is divisible by four, except for years that are both divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.

The added rule about centuries (versus just every four years) was an additional fix to make up for the fact that an extra day every four years is too much of a correction.