![image](https://img.esteem.ws/8q787g4xd1.jpg)

Every year, when it's February, I wonder why we have to experience some irregularities in the 2nd month of the year.

Honestly, I do not know how to calculate leap years or when it had arrived. I only get to discover when it's February 29th.

Basically, I wouldn't care, but for some reasons, for the sake of seeking knowledge, I somewhat got intrigued by the fact that February is so special the we have to experience 28 or 29 days (leap year).

In case you are not aware, 2018 is yet another short year, shortened by 1day! Today is the last day of the month, and it will be fair enough know really, why it has to be so.

> When we are not in a leap year, we are in a common year.  

To satisfy my curiosity, I went scouting for information that could answer my question but I got rather confused! Below is a quoted article from Wikipedia; you might understand it, I didn't!


## Why and How Are leap years Calculated?
> A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar yearcontaining one additional day (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, a month) added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year.[1] Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat in a whole number of days, calendars that have the same number of days in each year drift over time with respect to the event that the year is supposed to track. By inserting (also called intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that is not a leap year is called a common year. [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year)


There is more on Wikipedia if you click the link above, but before you do so, I'd love to tell you that I found a better and simpler explanation to the reason for leap years and how they are calculated! 😙

## Understand The Reason For Each Leap Year My Own Way!
For a leap year to occur, the year must be able to be divided by 4 accurately.
But, there is an exception to the above rule if a year can be divided evenly by 100, that year can not be a leap year unless it can be divided this time by 400.

Thus due to the exception above, any year ending with 00 would not be a leap unless it can be divided by 400 also!

So now, I guess like me, you will know how to calculate each leap year... The next leap year is 2020, then 2024, then 2028 and it continues!


Reference;
[passnownow](https://passnownow.com/why-do-we-have-leap-years/)