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Chapter - 23

Remembering Dates And Reckoning The Day Of The Week

Occasionally in everyday life it is necessary to remember not only a certain year but even a specific date. In such instances, however, we can assume that the century is always so well-known that it need not be recalled. If a certain day is so important that you want to keep the exact date in mind, you can hardly be in doubt about the century to which it belongs.

Our task, therefore, is to combine in some way the month, the day of the month, and the last two figures of the year. Combining two 2-figure numbers presents no difficulty, for we have a basic series and a secondary series of words at our command. But what shall we do about the third number? The nine adjectives, representing the figures from 1 to 9, which we have already learned, can be used for the months from January to September, inclusive, so that April, the fourth month, will be replaced by the adjective round. Then all we have to do is to add three more adjectives for the figures 10, 11, and 12, that is, the months October, November and December. These adjectives must produce the figures 10, 11 and 12 when we translate their consonants into numbers. For instance:

10. various adjectives that begin with dis: discolored, discovered, etc.

11. tight

12. thin

If we always substitute the adjective for the month, the word from the basic series of key words for the day of the month, and the word from the secondary series for the year, no confusion will ever arise. September 11, 1872, is translated as follows:

September, the 9th month, is pretty.

11 in the basic series of key words is tot.

72 in the secondary series of words is spoon.

September 11, 1872, therefore is: A pretty tot with a spoon.

Another example: December 25, 1890:

December, the 12th month, is thin.

25 in the basic series of key words is nail.

90 in the secondary series is wood.

December 25, 1890, is therefore: A thin nail in wood.

There is a variant for this method which you may prefer. We are accustomed to associate some quite definite thing with each month, that is, we have a symbol in mind for each month, usually the same for the majority of people. For instance, everybody thinks of Christmas in connection with December and consequently of the symbol Christmas tree. By using these symbols we can dispense with the adjective and substitute the particular symbol for the month. The example given above would then read: December 25, 1890: Christmas tree—nail—wood. This combination is easy to remember since a Christmas tree is often nailed to a wood stand.

I shall return later to the symbols for the various months, but at this point I want to urge you to choose your own symbols. For instance, if a person was born in December, he will find himself a better symbol than the tree. The choice in this instance resolves itself into a practical matter determined by individual factors. I naturally had to rely on my general knowledge of the average man in choosing my symbols.

In any case, remember that in this system the serial order of the concepts is of no importance:

The adjective or the symbol is always the month.

The basic series of key words is always the day of the month.

The secondary series of words is always the year.

In connection with this method for remembering dates, I want to give you also a simple way of reckoning dates, that is, a method by which it is possible to determine the day of the week for any date you choose, even though it be several centuries in the past.

What I have repeated so often in this book is again true: without mnemotechny this task is very difficult; with mnemotechnical aid it is comparatively easy.

First we give each month a special number, which has nothing to do with the calendar. For remembering them I shall later give you mnemotechnical aid. These numbers are:

January             4                      July                  2
February          o                      August              5
March              6                      September        1
April                 2                      October           3
May                 4                      November        6
June                 o                      December        1

Then we number the days consecutively, beginning with Sunday:
 
Sunday             1
Monday           2
Tuesday           3
Wednesday      4
Thursday          5
Friday              6
Saturday           7

If we continued numbering, with 8 we would come again to Sunday; 9, Monday; 10, Tuesday, etc. At 15 we should again have Sunday and once more at 22. From this we conclude we may discard the number 7 and every multiple of 7, without affecting our computations. For instance, 37 is 2, because the number 37 equals 5 times 7 plus 2. In other words, if at 1 we start with Sunday and number the days consecutively, at 37 we reach Monday. We can simplify the matter by disregarding five times seven (the multiple of 7) and merely use the remainder 2, which is Monday.

We use the same method both for the day of the month and the year. For the months, we use the numerical code given above.

But so far we have completely disregarded the century. For instance, if we had April 10, 1822, our computation would run as follows:

April (according to the code given above)                                 equals 2
10 equals seven plus three (disregarding the 7 for
reasons given above)                                                                "          3
The year 1822 (leaving the century out of our reckoning)
Equals 22; 3 X 7 plus 1                                                            "           1
                                                                                                Total    6
That gives us the sixth day, or Friday.

But this result is not correct, because up to now we have not considered the leap years. To reckon correctly, we divide the last 2 figures of the year (the century is again disregarded) by 4 and add to it the result attained so far. Completely disregard any remainder. So we say: 22 divided by 4 equals 5 (the remainder 2 does not count) and add this 5 to the total of 6. We get 11, and since we can always drop 7, the result is 4. This is a Wednesday. We have reckoned quite correctly. April 10, 1822, was a Wednesday.

Suppose the date to be March 13, 1891. Then—

March, according to our code for the months                            equals 6
13 equals 7 plus 6, therefore                                                     "          6
91 equals 13 × 7 (no remainder)                                               "          o
91 divided by 4 equals 22 (disregard the remainder)
22 equals 3 × 7 plus 1, therefore                                               "          1
                                                                                                Total 13

13 equals 7 plus 6; 6 is Friday Therefore March 13,1891, was a Friday

And now we come to a general exception: January and February must always be reckoned with the preceding year. For instance, February 10, 1939, must be reckoned as though it were February 10, 1938. Example:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was born Jan. 30, 1882.

January                                                                                     equals 4
30 equals 4X7? remainder 2                                                     "          2
1882, reckoned as 1881, because the date falls in
January; 81 equals 11 × 7, remainder 4                                     "          4
81 divided by 4 equals 20. And 20 equals 2X7 plus
6, therefore                                                                               "          6
                                                                                                Total 16

16 equals 2X7, remainder 2; 2 equals Monday

President Roosevelt was born on a Monday.
 
But the century cannot always be disregarded, as in the case of the nineteenth century. In the present century, the twentieth, we must add the number 5, after we have carried the computations to this point; and there are four of these arbitrary numbers to remember.

The following general rule holds true:
If the first 2 figures of the century can be divided by 4 (for instance, 16—), we add 4. For the following century (17—) we add 2. For the following century (18—) we add o. (It was for this reason we could heretofore disregard the century.) For the following century (19—) we add 5.

These four numbers, 4-2-0-5, we remember with mnemo-technical aid, by using the numerical code r-n-s-I and note for remembrance, "The centuries run easily."

Here are a few more examples of how to reckon the day of the week:

George Washington was born February 22, 1732.

February                                                                                  equals   o
22 equals 3X7, remainder 1                                                      "          1
1700 as the century                                                                  "           2
Instead of 1732, we reckon with 31, since we are
dealing with February. 31 equals 4 × 7, remainder 3                  "           3
31 divided by 4 equals 7; 7                                                       "           o
                                                                                                Total   6

George Washington was born on a Friday.

The last pages of manuscript for this book were completed on April 14, 1939.

April                                                                                         equals 2
14 equals 2 X 7, no remainder                                                  "          o
1900 as century                                                                        "          5
39 equals 5 X 7, remainder 4                                                    "          4
39 divided by 4                                                                        "          9
                                                                                                Total 20
20 equals 2X7; remainder 6

So this book was finished on a Friday!

Now, only the code for the months remains to be learned, for which I promised you mnemotechnical aid. You can use these symbols for remembering dates, too, as I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. The first consonant of the code word, which agrees in every case with the initial consonant of the symbol for the month, gives you the numerical code for reckoning dates.

January             New Year                    Year or Era                        4
February          Valentine's Day             Sweetheart                         o
March              St. Patrick's Day           Shamrock                           6
April                 Easter                           New Fashions                    2
May                 Memorial or
                        Decoration Day            Remembrance                    4
June                 June 21,
                        longest day                   Summer begins                   o
July                  4th of July                     Independence Day              2
August              Vacation month            Leisure                               5
September        Labor Day                    Toil                                    1
October           Columbus Day              Mariner                              3
November        Thanksgiving Day         Church                               6
December        Christmas                     Tree                                   1

And now let us try to simplify this whole system for practical everyday use. The value in workaday life consists merely in being able to know immediately every day in the current year, the year past, the one to come.

If this is the goal we set for ourselves, we can simplify our computations to a great degree by noting the results for these three years.

Take 1945 for instance:

1900 (the century)                                                                    equals 5
45 equals 6 X 7, remainder 3                                                    "         3
45 divided by 4 equals 11; 11 equals 4                                     "         4
                                                                                                Total 12
1945 is 12, or — 7 equals 5.

If we keep 5 in mind, figuring out any given date in the current year 1945 is a matter of seconds and can be done mentally.

July 27,1945, for instance, is

       July                              equals 2
       27                                "        6
       1945                            "        5

Total is 13, therefore Friday

In the same way we can arrive at the results for the following years:

       1946 :6
       1947 : o
       1948 : 2

This simplified method of computing dates is extraordinarily useful in business life. It is another example of the tremendous practical value of mnemotechny.

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