How many ticks will there be this year? - briefly
A standard year contains 315 360 000 000 000 «ticks» (100‑nanosecond intervals). In a leap year the count increases to 315 864 000 000 000 «ticks».
How many ticks will there be this year? - in detail
The term “tick” denotes a single increment of a system’s clock, often measured in hertz (cycles per second). Determining the total number of ticks within a calendar year requires three parameters: the tick frequency, the length of the year, and any adjustments for leap seconds.
First, establish the tick frequency. Common standards include:
- 100 Hz (typical for basic embedded systems) → 100 ticks × 60 seconds × 60 minutes × 24 hours × 365 days = 315 360 000 ticks; a leap year adds 86 400 000 ticks, totaling 315 446 400.
- 1 kHz (standard for many operating systems) → 1 000 ticks per second, yielding 31 536 000 000 ticks in a non‑leap year and 31 622 400 000 in a leap year.
- 10 MHz (high‑resolution timers) → 10 000 000 ticks per second, resulting in 315 360 000 000 000 ticks annually, with a leap‑year increase of 86 400 000 000 000.
Second, account for the calendar year length. A common year contains 365 days; a leap year contains 366 days. The Gregorian calendar inserts a leap day every four years, except for centurial years not divisible by 400.
Third, consider leap‑second adjustments. International time‑keeping occasionally adds a one‑second correction, effectively inserting an extra tick at the chosen frequency. For a 1 kHz system, this adds 1 000 ticks; for a 10 MHz system, 10 000 000 ticks.
Summarized calculation:
total_ticks = tick_rate × seconds_per_day × days_in_year + (leap_second ? tick_rate : 0)where seconds_per_day = 86 400. Substituting the appropriate values yields the precise annual tick count for any specified timer resolution.