On Sun, 30 Mar 2003, tuco wrote:
> GMT does not equal UTC. These are two different time scales. They are as
> different as inches are to centimeters except for the magnitude of the
> difference. One is an astronomical based time scale (GMT) and is an
> obsolete time scale for measuring civil time and has been for a long time
> now.
UTC second measures a time interval and very closely appoximates to the
GMT second. Because of this it is convenient to use the more accurate
atomic clock of UTC to measure GMT seconds. However, it is slightly fast,
so every few years it is necessary to add a leap-second to the UTC to
bring it back to GMT.
I.e UTC is used for time intervals as it is very accurate, GMT for "the
time" which is astronomical.
Phil.
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