Re: Why do Oracle dates go only up to 4712 A.D. is there some technical reason for such a specific date

I thought it had to do with Codd's Quantum Theory of Database Relativity:

P(e)=DB2

where DB=68.644009 (the number of bytes of overhead in an average row.), so DB2=~4712.

Michael S. Abbey <abbey_at_pythian.com> wrote in message news:38399b4c.338363158_at_news.magma.ca...
> On 22 Nov 1999 12:19:01 -0600, nousene_at_mailer.com (mosene) wrote:
>
> >why 4712 and not something else?
>
> It's based on some internal algorithm which factors in the current
> temperature (in Kelvin), the seconds since midnight and the dimensions
> of a sphere using Calcutta and Bombay as centres. Then the system date
> minus the square root of -34 is dissolved in the result, giving 4712.
>
> Hope this helps ...
>
> +-----------------------------
> + Michael S. Abbey
> + Co-author of 7 works in the
> + Oracle Press series
> +-----------------------------
Received on Mon Nov 22 1999 - 14:42:22 CST