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I have lost my place here some where.
Why is 1800 not a leap year? I always thought the method of identification
was the year must be divisible by 4.
1800 is in that category, is it not?
Doug
-----Original Message-----
From  Gordon Talge 
To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM

Date: Sunday, May 09, 1999 9:57 AM
Subject: Moore's Error Found by Bowditch


>I finally figured it out.  Here is what I think happened.
>
>Declinations for the Sun are listed from 1791 to 1819. This is the
>13th Edition dated 1798.  There are 12 Tables arranged like this:
>
>1) 1791, 1795, 1799, 1803 [1803 should not be listed here]
> 3rd yr after leap yr.
>
>2) 1792,1796, 1800, 1804 [1800 should not be listed here]
> leap yr.
>
>3) 1800
>
>4) 1801
>
>5) 1802
>
>6) 1803
>
>7) 1804,1808,1812,1816
>   leap yrs.
>
>8) 1806, 1810, 1814, 1818
>   2nd yr after leap yr.
>
>9) 1807, 1811, 1815, 1819
>   3rd yr after leap yr
>
>10) 1797
>    1st yr after leap yr
>
>12) 1798
>    2nd yr after leap yr.
>
>What I think goofed them up what that the pattern of 1-2-3-leap and start
>over again got messed up because 1800 is not a leap year.  They fixed it
>in the tables with 1800,1801,1802,and 1803 having their own separate pages,
>but on the labeling 1803 is also listed with table 1 and 1800 with table
>2.
>
>I also noticed that 1793 and 1794 were missing. They should be with
>1797 and 1798 respectively.  I think the reason that they are not,
>is because the book is the 13th edition published Jan. 30, 1798. They
>probably used the same printing setup as in past years and did not
>want to reset the type and drop all years before 1797.  But they did
>do it for the current years 1797 and 1798, putting them on a page
>by themselves.
>
>The idea of the tables is that if you use a nautical almanac exactly
>4 years out of date ( with exceptions ) you get the same declination.
>
>-- Gordon
>
>                                     ,,,
>                                    (. .)
>         +-----------------------ooO-(_)-Ooo----------------------+
>         |  Gordon Talge WB6YKK            e-mail: gtalge@pe.net  |
>         |  Department of Mathematics      QTH: Loma Linda, CA    |
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