Annual Pop Quiz

s f b · Post by **s f b** » Thu Oct 24, 2002 8:17 am

I do this every year and no one's gotten it yet:

Halloween and Christmas fall on the same day. Why??

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Allen Moulton at Uechi-ryu Etcetera loves email at <A HREF="mailto:uechi@ixpres.com">uechi@ixpres.com</A>

Post by **gmattson** » Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:07 pm

Yea Glenn. . . That's what I was going to say!

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GEM

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:46 pm

The same rule applies to any other holiday that falls on the same date every year (although see exception below). For example the 4th of July is always one day of the week later than Halloween and Christmas, with for this year July 4 falling on a Thursday and the latter two falling on Wednesdays. It's simply because the number of days between any two holidays that always fall on the same dates will always be the same.

The exception of course is holidays that occur before March 1, since they will be affected by leap-years.

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Glenn

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Thu Oct 24, 2002 7:16 pm

Hey wait a minute, Halloween is on a Thursday this year (same as July 4)! Halloween and Christmas are on different days of the week, and 55 days apart instead of 56!

But the general rule still applies: July 4 and Halloween will always be on the same day of the week every year, while Christmas will always be one day of the week earlier.

Getting back to Allen's question, the answer is: They don't fall on the same day!

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Glenn

s f b · Post by **s f b** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 12:04 am

The riddle is still on because according to many in math and Computer Science they are exactly the same -- every year.

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Allen Moulton at Uechi-ryu Etcetera loves email at <A HREF="mailto:uechi@ixpres.com">uechi@ixpres.com</A>

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 5:53 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by s f b:
I do this every year and no one's gotten it yet:

Halloween and Christmas fall on the same day. Why??<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's easy. It's because on our Gregorian calendar they are 56 days apart, which is divisable by 7 to give you exactly 8 weeks apart. Since each is always on the same date and they are exactly 8 weeks apart, they will always be on the same day of the week each year.

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Glenn

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 3:15 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by s f b:
The riddle is still on because according to many in math and Computer Science they are exactly the same -- every year.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well there's your problem, you need to stop talking them!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote

fall on the same day

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote

they are exactly the same

Would you elaborate on exactly what you mean by statements?

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Glenn

s f b · Post by **s f b** » Tue Oct 29, 2002 11:23 pm

I need to stop taking riddles, Glenn? When you get to be my age you'll find somethings are important for regularity.

Ok, this year I'll be a pushover. Seeing All Hallow's Eve is almost upon us...

OCT31 = DEC25

The numbers don't lie; simple as that.

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Allen Moulton at Uechi-ryu Etcetera loves email at <A HREF="mailto:uechi@ixpres.com">uechi@ixpres.com</A>

Tony-San · Post by **Tony-San** » Sat Nov 02, 2002 1:29 pm

Allen,

Are you saying that 25 is the decimal equivalent of 31 Octal? What does that have to do with the day of the year? that's cheating!

The real halloween was actually 2 weeks ago during the 2nd day of the full moon. that is, the ancient pagan holiday of Samhain. The Xtian calendar is terribly skewed with respect to the lunar cycles and the universe and all that stuff.

s f b · Post by **s f b** » Mon Nov 04, 2002 1:25 am

Cheating?? Aw c'm on, Tony. No it's not! Don't spoil it for me, it was my riddle anyway.

Yes, Octal 31 is the same as Decimal 25, or OCT31=DEC25.

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Allen Moulton at Uechi-ryu Etcetera loves email at <A HREF="mailto:uechi@ixpres.com">uechi@ixpres.com</A>

Tony-San · Post by **Tony-San** » Wed Nov 06, 2002 10:52 pm

oops! Sorry Allen....

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Thu Nov 07, 2002 10:45 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by s f b:
I need to stop taking riddles, Glenn? When you get to be my age you'll find somethings are important for regularity.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No, I meant you need to stop talking to the "many in math and Computer Science"!

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Glenn

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Thu Nov 07, 2002 10:48 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by s f b:
Yes, Octal 31 is the same as Decimal 25, or OCT31=DEC25.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What's an Octal...base 8?

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Glenn

s f b · Post by **s f b** » Thu Nov 07, 2002 11:50 pm

Right. My first programming assignment was to program a Varian computer in Octal using toggle switches, one bit at the time.

Here's a link to help you verify <a href="http://www.evergreen.edu/biophysics/tec ... tm">number conversions.</a>. Enjoy!

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Allen Moulton at Uechi-ryu Etcetera loves email at <A HREF="mailto:uechi@ixpres.com">uechi@ixpres.com</A>

s f b · Post by **s f b** » Thu Nov 07, 2002 11:52 pm

Stop talking to the multitudes? If I did that, Glenn, I'd be out of work.

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Allen Moulton at Uechi-ryu Etcetera loves email at <A HREF="mailto:uechi@ixpres.com">uechi@ixpres.com</A>