Epoch (reference date)

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For other uses, see epoch.

In chronology, an epoch (or epochal date, or epochal event) means an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The epoch serves as a reference point from which time is measured. Time measurement units are counted from the epoch so that the date and time of events can be specified unambiguously. Events taking place before the epoch can be dated by counting negatively from the epoch.

Epochs are generally chosen to be convenient or significant by a consensus of the time scale's initial users, or by authoritarian fiat.

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[edit] Calendars

Each calendar era starts from an arbitrary epoch, which is often chosen to commemorate an important historical or mythological event. For example, the epoch of the anno Domini calendar era (the civil calendar era used internationally and in many countries) is the traditionally-reckoned Incarnation of Jesus.[1] Many other current and historical calendar eras exist, each with its own epoch.

[edit] Asian national eras

  • The official Japanese system numbers years from the accession of the current emperor, regarding the calendar year during which the accession occurred as the first year.
  • A similar system existed in China before 1912, being based on the accession year of the emperor (1911 was thus the fourth year of the Xuantong period). With the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, the republican era was introduced. It is still very common in Taiwan to date events via the republican era. The People's Republic of China adopted the common era calendar in 1949 (the 38th year of the Chinese Republic).
  • North Korea uses a system that starts in 1912 (= Juche 1), the year of the birth of their founder Kim Il-Sung. The year 2007 is "Juche 96". Juche means "autarky, self-reliance".
  • In Thailand in 1888 King Chulalongkorn decreed a National Thai Era dating from the founding of Bangkok on April 6, 1782. In 1912, New Year's Day was shifted to April 1. In 1941, Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram decided to count the years since 543 BC. This is the Thai solar calendar using the Thai Buddhist Era. Except for this era, it is the Gregorian calendar.

[edit] Religious eras

  • In Israel, the traditional Hebrew calendar, using an era dating from Creation, is the official calendar. However, the Gregorian calendar is the de facto calendar and is commonly used. Government documents usually display a dual date. The beginning of year 1 of the Hebrew calendar occurred in the autumn of 3761 BC. Therefore, "Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in September 2003 marked the transition from 5763 to 5764". [2] [3]
  • In the Islamic world, traditional Islamic dating according to the Anno Hegiræ (in the year of the hijra) or AH era remains in use to a varying extent, especially for religious purposes. The official Iranian calendar (used in Afghanistan as well as Iran) also dates from the hijra, but as it is a solar calendar its year numbering does not coincide with the religious calendar.

[edit] Other

  • In the French Republican Calendar, a calendar used by the French government for about twelve years from late 1793, the epoch was the beginning of the 'Republican Era', 22 September 1792 (the day the French First Republic was proclaimed, one day after the Convention abolished the monarchy).
  • In the scientific Before Present system of numbering years for purposes of radiocarbon dating, the reference date is January 1, 1950 (though the use of January 1 is mostly irrelevant, as radiocarbon dating is approximate to years and days can rarely be calculated accurately).
  • Different branches of Freemasonry have selected different years to date their documents according to a Masonic era.

[edit] Astronomy

Main article: Epoch (astronomy)

In astronomy, an epoch is a moment in time for which celestial coordinates or orbital elements are specified. The current standard epoch is J2000.0.

[edit] Computing

In computers, time is often expressed as the number of seconds or days (including a fraction) since midnight, Universal Time, on a conventional epoch defined by the operating system. Contrary to human calendars, computers usually start counting from 0 at the epoch instant. Famous epoch dates include:

January 1, 1904, was chosen as the base for the Macintosh clock because it was the first leap year of the twentieth century. [...] This means that by starting with 1904, Macintosh system programmers could save a half dozen instructions in their leap-year checking code.

System time is measured in seconds or ticks of arbitrary length past the epoch. Unspecified problems may occur when this number exceeds a predefined capacity, which is not necessarily a rare event; on a machine counting 10 ticks per second, a signed 32-bit count of ticks allows for only 6.8 years of accurate timekeeping. The 1-tick-per-second clock of Unix will overflow on January 19, 2038, creating the Year 2038 problem on systems that still store time as a 32-bit signed integer. David Mills, author of NTP, acknowledges that the protocol's ultra-precise 64-bit timestamps will roll over on February 6, 2036 and advises that:

Should NTP be in use in 2036, some external means will be necessary to qualify time relative to 1900 and time relative to 2036 (and other multiples of 136 years). (quoted from RFC 1305)

The evolving definition of official time over history introduces more subtle problems for computer-based linear representations. Leap years and the Gregorian calendar are generally taken into account, but leap seconds are more challenging due to their non-linear rate of past occurrences and the impossibility to accurately predict their future occurrences. These complications are discussed at length in the Unix time article.

The fictional (or Julian) leap day February 29, 1900 in Microsoft Excel was introduced intentionally in order to maintain compatibility with then market leader Lotus 1-2-3. Designers of Lotus 1-2-3 had probably chosen this simplified behaviour in order to save some precious processing time and program space. For the rest of its time range 1900 – 9999 Excel uses the Gregorian calendar, hence e.g. there is no February 29, 2100.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Blackburn, B. & Holford-Strevens, L. (2003). The Oxford Companion to the Year: An exploration of calendar customs and time-reckoning. Oxford University Press. Glossary entry for "Incarnation era", p. 881.
  2. ^ My Jewish Learning:Counting the Years
  3. ^ Rosetta Calendar
  4. ^ Timing on the Macintosh by Martin Minow
  5. ^ USNO GPS Time Transfer

[edit] External links