Trivial Quest

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  • #589038
    squeak
    Participant

    Rather than clog up the already stuffed riddle thread with non-riddles, I thought it would be nice to have a thread for non-riddle questions.

    The one Joseph asked is a good one to start with – he asked:

    Is it true that there is a leap year (Feb. 29) every 4 years (in the secular calendar)?

    The answer is no. The secular (Gregorian) calendar follows the sun and uses a 365 day year. Unfortunately, nature is not so into round numbers. The true amount of time that it takes the Earth to go around the sun is approximately 365 and 1/4 days. Therefore, at the end of every 365 day year we are actually around 6 hours further behind in our orbital position compared to last year on the same day. At the end of 4 years, we are a full day behind so we have a leap day to catch up.

    Unfortunately again, nature abhorrs a round number. 1/4 is not exactly 1/4 but closer to .24. So having a leap year EVERY 4 years overcompensates. As scientific ability to measure this kind of thing improved, they decided to make adjustments to the calendar structure to account for this. At one point, they decided that every 100 years they would skip a leap day. This way, there would be only 24 leap days per century instead of 25, which better corresponds to the .24 extra day.

    Well, as time went on we found out that .24 is not exactly .24 (actually, they already knew that but hadn’t done anything about it) but something slightly more (I think close to .2425). So they had again overcompensated (though it is unlikely that the error would have ever be noticed – they were off by 1/4 of a day every 100 years so the seasons wouldn’t even be off by one week for 2800 years!!!!).

    The final result is that now we have added back a leap day every 400 years. So in the year 2000 we had one, in the years 2100, 2200, and 2300 we will not, but we will again in the year 2400 – mark my words, and get back to me :). But as we know, things can always change and who knows if some yekkishe scientist will be disturbed by the current inaccuracy and make a new change to the leap year rules.

    Next!!

    #649417
    YW Moderator-42
    Moderator

    I heard that they added a “leap second” last night before the new year to compensate for inaccuracies. They do this every few years but not on a set schedule, just whenever the scientists decide that we are a second off

    #649418
    qwertyuiop
    Member

    mod that is true

    #649419
    qwertyuiop
    Member

    it depends on the speed the earth is rotating i think

    #649420
    squeak
    Participant

    Really? I’d better reset my watch then. What does the atomic clock have to say about this – any change in the release of neutrons? I don’t link up to it, so I have to set my watch on my own. But at least I don’t have to wind it anymore.

    #649421
    Joseph
    Participant

    I posted an article about this a few days ago in the CR on the X-mas lights thread.

    #649422
    Joseph
    Participant

    …about the leap second that is.

    #649423
    RoshYeshivah
    Member

    It’s all a waste of time! Real time!! These ppl should add some leap minutes to their schedule to accomplish something good!

    #649424
    squeak
    Participant

    Which month(s) in the Jewish calendar can have either 1 or 2 days of Rosh Chodesh?

    #649425
    Joseph
    Participant

    Taking a guess, Adar/Adar II.

    #649426
    oomis
    Participant

    This entire discussion of leap dyas, leap years, blah, blah, blah, makes me laugh. Who really cares? So WHAT if the season is a day late or a week late? None of us will have much to be concerned about by the time it really makes a difference! Now the Jewish calendar is a different story. If we did not add Adar Bet every few years, Pesach could conceivably not be in Spring….

    #649427

    cheshvan and kislev?

    #649428
    squeak
    Participant

    Hey oomis – good question. The Jewish calendar is comprised of 12 lunar months of 29.5 days each. That’s a 354 day year. Since we need to align with the solar calendar (so that Pesach is not in the spring, as you said) we need a leap month. We need one rather frequently (7 times in every 19 years) because each year we fall more than 11 days behind.

    The same is true for the non-Jewish calendar, though to a lesser degree. Each year we are off by about 1/4 of a day. That doesn’t make a noticable difference, but after a while it builds up. Every 100 years we would have our seasons off by nearly a month! Imagine spring not coming until late April, summer starting in late July, etc. After 400 years, we’d be off by more than 3 months, so summer would start in September, and winter in March, etc. Not quite as dramatic, but still problematic. You’d hear of the battle of Leningrad and wonder why it got colder in January than when the siege started in September.

    #649429
    squeak
    Participant

    Adar is not the correct answer. Adar II always has 2 days of R”CH, and so does Adar I in a regular year. In a leap year, Adar I always has one day R”CH. So the last Adar always has two days, and the extra one is really the first, which always has one day (that sounds funny, but in the fixed calendar it makes sense – we always know in advance whether there will be one or two, so we give the first one the ‘extra’ status).

    Hint: Half of the answer can be found in my response to the mod’s riddle in the riddle thread.

    #649430
    qwertyuiop
    Member

    Teves

    #649431
    squeak
    Participant

    Kislev and Teves.

    Tishrei is always one day

    Cheshvan is always two days

    Kislev can be one or two days

    Teves can be one or two days

    Shevat is always one day

    Adar is always two days

    Nissan is always one day

    Iyar is always two days

    Sivan is always one day

    Tammuz is always two days

    Av is always one day

    Elul is always two days

    In a leap year, instead of Adar we have Adar I and Adar II.

    Adar I is always one day

    Adar II is always two days

    #649432
    YW Moderator-42
    Moderator

    Interesting thing I noticed: Because Rosh Chodesh is always the day after the 29th of the month (either the 30th or the 1st) and the 29th is the same day of the week as the first so the days of Rosh Chodesh go in order so if Rosh HaShana is a Monday, then R”Ch Cheshvan would be Tuesday and Wednesday, R”Ch Kislev would be Thursday and possibly Friday, etc.

    This can make it easier to figure out what day of the week a Yom Tov will be on months in advance assuming you know what day the most recent R”Ch was and how many days each month’s R”Ch has

    #649433
    Curious
    Member

    42 – I learnt that in elementary school. If R”C is on Sunday, next month will be Mon/Tues, next month Wed, etc…

    #649434
    YW Moderator-42
    Moderator

    Hmmm, I haven’t graduated elementary school yet (I’m still in 4th grade) so I had to figure it out on my own. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention in class.

    #649435
    brooklyn19
    Participant

    ok guys, i confess – looks like i’m moderator 42 :}

    #649436
    YW Moderator-42
    Moderator

    No Brooklyn19, you’re my Morah

    #649437
    Curious
    Member

    Aha, so that why you’re #42. 4th grade, class 2. Got it!

    #649438
    brooklyn19
    Participant

    hmmmm. what’d you say about not paying attention in class…???

    #649439
    YW Moderator-42
    Moderator

    Actually 2nd year of 4th grade

    #649440
    Curious
    Member

    that’s what I meant by class 2, but was trying to be carefull about not insulting you in public.

    #649441
    Joseph
    Participant

    Which of the following numbers is NOT a perfect number?

    8,596,989,056

    6

    8,128

    2,305,843,008,139,952,128

    #649442
    squeak
    Participant

    A)

    I always had a pet peeve with perfect numbers. Why do you count 1 as a factor, but not the number itself? 1 is not a factor without it.

    #649443
    Joseph
    Participant

    And squeak takes the cake.

    #649444

    mod42,

    wanna play football by recess tomorrow?

    charlie, you will be busy during recess. go to:

    YWN Coffee Room Nightly D’Var Torah

    I assigned the Wednesday night D’var Torah to you. YW Moderator-72

    #649445

    ooh, me and my big mouth, lol. OK, I’ll try BL”N.

    Thanks

    #649446
    squeak
    Participant

    Try to get it done before Wednesday, so that you will be free to follow the minute-by-minute as the mysterious “tip” faces the ultimate test.

    #649447

    ive been seeing trivia on a bunch of diff threads so…..

    #649448
    teen
    Member

    coke: and so?

    #649449
    squeak
    Participant

    There are more live births each year in India (25,636,663 in 2007) than people in Australia (21,234,176 in 2007).

    #649450
    shaatra
    Member

    Woah!

    #649451
    poverty
    Member

    does miamonides have the biggest birth rate??

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