Leap year

High school (ages 12+)
Mathematics & Numbers

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/leap-year

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How long is Leap year?Approximately 365.2422 days
2. What is the related calendrical systems?Lunisolar Hebrew calendar, Solar Hijri calendar, Bahá'í calendar
3. What is a leap year and why do we have an extra day?A leap year adds one extra day, February 29, to keep our calendar in sync with Earth's orbit around the sun. The Earth takes about 365.2422 days to complete a year, so we add a day every four years to balance the difference.
4. How does the Gregorian calendar decide which years are leap years?The rule is: a year is a leap year if it can be divided by 4, except if it can be divided by 100 but not by 400. This makes the average year 365.2425 days long, close to the true tropical year.

Tropical Year: The time from one vernal equinox to the next, approximately 365.2422 days.
Vernal Equinox: The moment when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving north, marking the start of spring.