Topics in Math & Science:

HAVE YOU LOOKED AT YOUR

CALENDAR LATELY?

Mr. K., NASA/GRC/LTP

For Ira Myers, who was brilliant!
Edited: Ruth Petersen
 Preliminary Activities
1.Find a dictionary with good word origins
(etymologies: I recommend Merriam-
Webster) and look up the day and month
names.Think of yourself as an archaeologist
of ideas! You will be amazed at the amount
of history you will encounter. Be prepared
to discuss your results!
2.Look up the word MARS, and read both the
definition and the etymology. What do you
learn?
.
3.Look up the word MARCH. What connection
do you find between Mars and March?
4.Assume that you have a calendar of 365
days per year. How much will the calendar
get out of step with real time if the
tropical* year is actually 365.25 days long?
(Make your estimate in days per year).
5.How much will your calendar get out of step
in one century?? .
[*The length of the year used by astronomers,
measured according to the sun’s motion. We now know
that one tropical year is 365.2422 days.]
6.How would you fix the problem?
7.How many days per year (on the average)
would your new calendar have?
8.Now use the actual tropical year of
365.2422 days. How much will your new
calendar get out of step with real time?
9.Can you devise another “fix”?
10.Can you predict the accuracy of THIS new
calendar?
11.Finally: HAVE A CALENDAR CLOSE BY TO
ANSWER SOME ADDITIONAL IN-CLASS
QUESTIONS! .
 ?
Have you ever taken a careful look at your
pocket calendar? You might be amazed just
how much history, mythology, mathematics,
and astronomy you would find there!

.
 You should have already discovered that:

1.The day names derive from ancient Norse

and Teutonic sources.

2.The month names derive from Ancient Rome!

Please use the results of your preliminary

activities to tell us what you have learned
about some of the day and month names
and their sources.
.
Next, please use your results to tell us the
role Mars plays in our calendar.

.
1. The ancients understood the sky as being
populated by various gods.

2. These gods were eternal, like the fixed

stars.

3. But the planets were mysterious wanderers

whose changing positions were considered
important to events on earth.

4. Mars the war god, was particularly to be

feared . . .and respected . . .
.
 From your word studies, what
can you say about Mars’ role in
the ancient Roman Calendar?
What can you say
about the number of
days in the ancient
Roman calendar?
 MARCH
(Etym.: L. Mars, Rom. God of war.)

The ancient Roman calendar used a

tropical year of 365 days. To honor
Mars, they began their calendar with
a month dedicated to him - our
calendar retains this tradition with
its month of March.

.
 If you begin the calendar with March,
then what numerical positions do the last
four months of our calendar occupy?

What have you learned from you

etymology studies about the names of
these months in our calendar?

Do you see a connection, or are you

puzzled?
.
 September – Latin, Septem, 7
October – Latin, Octa, 8
November – Latin, Novem, 9
December – Latin, Decem, 10
But … these months now occupy positions 9,
10, 11, & 12 on OUR calendar! How did this
happen?

.
 The calendar gradually fell out of step
with days, months, and seasons as
determined by the actual position of the
sun until, by the time of Julius Caesar, it
was badly in need of reform.
.
With the help of Egyptian astronomers, Julius
Caesar reformed the calendar to have one
year out of every four possess an extra day -
leap year!
He also added two more months IN FRONT
OF March…
…& September went from being #7 to #9,
etc.

Date = 46 B. C. .
 So, with 3 years of 365 days each, and 1
year of 366, Julius Caesar REDEFINED the
tropical year.

From your preliminary activity

calculations, how long is this new
“Julian” year?

.
Answer:

Weighted Average

((3  365) + 366) / 4 = 365.25 days

.
Definition: Weighted Average:

ax1 + bx2 + … + mxn

x =
a + b + … + m

X1,…,xm are variables ; a, b,…, m are weights

Please Note: When a = b = c = … m = 1,

then:

x = (x1 + x2 + … + xn)/n

Problem: Julius Caesar’s calendar, on the
other hand, was too long by
365.25 - 365.2422 = 0.0078 days.
Estimate the accuracy of this calendar.

.
 Let’s do some algebra:
128 years
(0.0078 days/year) = 1 day/_____

(Approximately)

.
 Well, by the 16th century,
the equinox had slipped again, this time by 10 days,
from March 21 to March 11.

Pope Gregory XIII ordered

that 10 days be dropped from the calendar, and that
years ending in hundreds be leap years only if
divisible by 400.

Date = 1582

.
 Interesting Note…
History records
that non-Catholic countries in
Europe did not accept the change
immediately.
Great Britain did not accept the
change
(the “New Style” calendar)
until 1752.

We still use the Gregorian calendar in the

Western World…
 Pope Gregory “reset” the calendar by
eliminating 10 days and specifying that
years ending in hundreds be leap years only
if also divisible by 400.
Problem: What can you say about the accuracy
of Pope Gregory’s calendar?

Hint: In Caesar’s calendar, ALL years divisible

by 4 are leap years!

.
Answer: In 1,200 years:
1.A total of 300 years are divisible by 4,
leaving a total of 900 years not divisible
by 4.
2.(Starting with AD 100), there are 12
years ending in “00” that are possible
leap years, BUT… .
4.Only 3 such years out of every 12 are
also divisible by 400 (e.g., {400, 800,
1200}, {1600, 2000, 2400 }, etc. Try it
for yourself!!! ); so, only 3 years ending in
“00” are actual leap years.
 Since 12 - 3 = 9, the Gregorian calendar
eliminates 9 leap years (ending in “00” ) out of
every 1,200 years.

Thus, 300 - 9 = 291 years out of every

1,200 are leap years, and 900 + 9 = 909 are
regular years.

.
The new defined length of the tropical year
becomes:

((291  366) + (909  365))

= 365.2425 days.
1200
And . . .

365.2425 - 365.2422 = 0.0003 day/year

.
 Finally:
(0.0003 day/yr)-1 = 3,333.33…yr/day
Giving an accuracy of 1 day every 3333 years!

.
 And that about does it!
For your post-conference activity---
Next time you look at a calendar,
or a clock, or a street name, or whatever,
stop to ask yourself, “What’s in it?”
Use your dictionary and your math skills and
pry into things.
Even in the most everyday things, you will
usually find “Far more than
meets the eye!”
Ciao!
.
For those interested in talking more,
contact me at:
joseph.c.kolecki@grc.nasa.gov