To understand how to calculate leap years, break down the definition of “leap year.” It’s pretty simple: A calendar year that is evenly divisible by 4 is a leap year. For example, 1996 was a leap year because it was evenly divisible by 4.
If you want to correctly check if a year is a leap year or not, then add the digits of the year together. If that number is evenly divisible by 4 then it is a leap year and will have an extra day added to February.
You can use your calculator to check if the number is a leap year. Just remember, each leap year has 366 days in it, except for years that are evenly divisible by 100. The number 4 just happens to be the first exception.
Leap year happens when an extra day is added to February. Leap years occur every four years. That means that every year divisible by 4 will be a leap year. For example: 2016, 2020, 2024.
Have you ever noticed that the calendar is a little… off? Each year has 365 days, except for certain years that are called leap years. These years combine the extra day with February 29, otherwise known as leap day. But, first and foremost, why do we have leap years?
The reason we have leap years is to make sure that the calendar year still aligns with the length of the Earth’s revolution around the sun. If it didn’t, then the seasons would eventually drift out of sync. Since our calendar’s year is based on days and not on the time that it takes for our planet to complete one rotation, every so often an extra day needs to be added to make sure it keeps rotating at the same speed that it always has.
It may come as a surprise, but leap years aren’t just a quirky holiday―they’re actually added by an international system that defines our calendar based on the earth completing four trips around the sun in one year.
Why don’t add a leap day every 4 years? It turns out that the tropical year (the time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun), is not exactly 365.2422 days long. The tropical year is about 6 hours longer than a calendar year with 365 days, so in order to have the same amount of time between any two occurrences, we have to make an adjustment after every ~4th year. And visit the website 3aam.com for more information about how long is 72 hours click on our guide.
So, I hope that you now understand how to tell if February is a leap year! But if you’re like me, you still might enjoy knowing what happens in a non-leap year.
In other words, February 29 occurs most often in years that are divisible by 4. And except for years in which a century year, such as 2000, is divisible by 100, a century year will always be divisible by 400.
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