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Wolfram Alpha still has the same old bug:

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2016-04-04+to+2019-01-3... = 2 years 9 months 27 days

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2019-01-31+to+2016-04-0... = 2 years 9 months 26 days

The duration should be identical but is off by one day.

One day a space mission will fail due to this bug.

Reported several times, they never cared.




This is fascinating. Even sillier example, https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2019-01-31+to+2016-04-0... and https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2019-01-30+to+2016-04-0...

both show an identical duration of 2 years 9 months 26 days (edit: despite reporting 1032 and 1031 days respectively).


Counting months and days are two very different metrics.

Months are lunar. Days are solar.


Depends on the calendar system, as far as this discussion goes, the Greogorian calendar system is solar even for months.


Do you still have any of the reports open? I might have some debug info. This appears to be an error with consecutive months with 31 days.

Jan 2024 - Nov 2023 example (both cases show "2 months 1 day"):

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2024-01-31+to+2023-11-2...

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2024-01-30+to+2023-11-2...

Aug 2024 - Jun 2024 example (same bug):

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2024-08-31+to+2024-06-2...

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2024-08-30+to+2024-06-2...

The same thing doesn't happen from Jul 2024 - May 2024 (results vary by 1 day):

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2024-07-31+to+2024-05-2...

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2024-07-30+to+2024-05-2...


Is that a bug? I interpret it as from midnight 2016-04-04 to the first time which has the date 2019-01-31. That includes the full day of 2016-04-04 but nothing from 2019-01-31. This is contrasted with the opposite direction which is midnight 2019-01-31 going backwards, thus not including 2019-01-31 and all the way up till the first time which is 2016-04-04 non-inclusive.

Date time arithmetic is weird ;)


If that were true, then this would be false:

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2019-01-31+to+2015-10-2... = 3 years 3 months 10 days

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=2015-10-21+to+2019-01-3... = 3 years 3 months 10 days


OK, I see, but it shows a different value for the absolute number of days, that's weird.


If you use "from" in the second example, the answer is the same as in the first ... anyway the system should figure it out.


Both show 1032 days. Do space missions depend on such fuzzy defined time stamps as (calendar?) months? I think time dilation would be a much more serious factor.




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