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Re: Calendar formula for 2nd Wednesday of each successive month
Posted:
Jan 26, 2013 12:29 AM
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On Jan 25, 5:00 pm, Wally W. <ww8...@aim.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:51:15 -0800 (PST), Archimedes Plutonium wrote:
>
> >The last time I wrote about a calendar curiosity was
> >when I asked how many calendar years do I need in order to not have to
> >buy a new calendar. And the answer is 7, if we ignore leap years. The
> >answer is 7 because I need only 7 calendars that start the january 1st
> >with one of the seven days of the week. If I have those, I need not
> >buy any new calendar.
>
> >But now I have a new calendar question, sort of a reversal of the 7
> >calendars. I am receiving social security checks every 2nd wednesday
> >of the month.
> >So the question is, what math formula can be written that tells me how
> >many days in each month, starting January of 2013 for the next ten
> >years, how many days in each month that I have to wait for the check.
>
> The approach of finding and adapting a general formula seems overly
> complicated for the one-off task.
>
> It will probably be easier to make a table of dates in a spreadsheet
> and extract the desired dates.
>
> >For example, January 2013, the first wednesday was 2nd and the second
> >wednesday was the 9th which means I had to wait 9 days for Jan 2012 to
> >receive the check. Now Feb 2012, the first wednesday is 6th and the
> >second wednesday is the 13th so I have to wait 13 days.
>
> >So far I have this:
> >2013
> >Jan wait 9
> >Feb wait 13
> >.
> >.
> >.
>
> Your results are tabular.
>
> A spreadsheet can produce this output.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >So what is the formula that gives me those numbers without consulting
> >a calendar? Here I would have to include leap years.
>
> >And it is obvious that the numbers have a lower limit of 7 and a upper
> >limit of 15, depending on what day is the first day of that month.
>
> >What I am interested in is whether there is a internal pattern that
> >can easily tell me if a month is going to have a early payday or
> >whether it is near to 15 day wait.
>
> >And I wonder if some years are going to have many 7 day paydays or
> >many 15 day paydays, given that a
> >probability of a 7 or 15 day month is about 1 per year since we have
> >12/7 = 1.7
>
> >Anyone figure out a formula?
>
> Maybe, but it would be complicated and would probably be evaluated in
> a spreadsheet.
>
> Why bother with a formula when the spreadsheet can produce the result
> you want without complexity.
>
> >And I would guess that there is a general formula for what day is the
> >1st of the month for the next ten years
>
> That would be a list of 120 days.
>
> Such a list is easy to produce in a spreadsheet without needing to
> find a general forumula.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >has been figured out and that
> >this formula is part of the solution for the 2nd wednesday of each
> >month.
Most people would like to have some idea of "how it works", or the
mechanism or the internal pattern, rather than be fed the facts of a
spreadsheet.
One can easily get blueprints of a car engine, but what we really need
to know is it works by explosions in cylinders, converted into forward
motion.
AP
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