Archives of the TeradataForum
Message Posted: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 @ 15:28:39 GMT
| Subj: | | Re: Why does teradata accept 61.999999 seconds as the max value in time stamp |
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| From: | | Dennis Calkins |
Because every once in a while scientists adjust the clock by adding a leap second.
from www.tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html
In order to keep the cumulative difference in UT1-UTC less than 0.9 seconds, a leap second is added to the atomic time to decrease the
difference between the two. This leap second can be either positive or negative depending on the Earth's rotation. Since the first leap second in
1972, all leap seconds have been positive and there were 22 leap seconds in the 27 years to January, 1999. This pattern reflects the general
slowing trend of the Earth due to tidal braking.
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