[LEAPSECS] alternative to smearing

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Preben Nrager said:
> I quoted this from Newcomb: "To avoid the inconvenience thus arising
> astronomers measure the years from a zero epoch one year earlier than the
> birth of Christ ; that is, they place a year before the year 1, and measure
> from its beginning." Is it irrelevant that Newcomb wanted astronomers to
> "measure from its [year 0s] beginning"?

Actually I think you'll find that Newcomb was trying to resolve the
cardinal/ordinal problem: going N periods takes you to the N+1th period,
not the Nth period.

In computing terms we'd call this the C versus Fortran issue: do array
indices start at 0 or 1.

"My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration."
- Stan Kelly-Bootle 


-- 
Clive D.W. Feather          | If you lie to the compiler,
Email: clive at davros.org     | it will get its revenge.
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