Adoption of the Gregorian calendar started to make the change from the Julian calendar and towards the Gregorian calendar in 1700, but it was decided to make the (then 11-day) adjustment gradually by excluding the leap days (29 February) from each of 11 successive leap years, 1700 to 1740. Meanwhile, the Swedish calendar would be out of step with both the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar for 40 years; also, the difference would not be constant but would change every four years. This system had potential for confusion when working out the dates of Swedish events in this 40-year period. To add to the
Leap year leap day "every" four years amounts to about three extra days. The Gregorian calendar therefore drops three leap days every 400 years, which is the length of its "leap cycle". This is done by dropping February 29 in the three century years (multiples of 100) that cannot be exactly divided by 400. The years 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years, while 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200 and 2300 are common years. By this rule, the average number of days per year is 365 + − + = 365.2425. The rule can be applied to years before the Gregorian reform