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Comment on A Fast 64-Bit Date Algorithm (30–40% faster by counting dates backwards)parent

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I've read that not only March was the first month, but the number of months was only ten: winter months did not need to be counted because there was no agricultural work to be done (which was the primary purpose of the calendar). So after the tenth month there was a strange unmapped period.

>So after the tenth month there was a strange unmapped period.

this is when time-travelling fugitives hide out

How do you figure out it's March 1 if you're not counting days?

Equinox or something like that?

The precise equinox sounds fussy to measure and even then you need to know three weeks before the equinox. While counting days is very easy.

Yes. But they also added leap days on an ad hoc basis right until the Caesar reformed the calendar. So some fussiness would probably not deter the much earlier Romans.

(It's still evidence in the direction you suggest, just much weaker than it looks at first.)

Druid tells you

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