It takes 365.25 days for the Earth to make one complete revolution around the Sun. Long–standing convention makes a y...

Irina on August 22, 2019

@charlesvaughan,

This is a confusing question. The passage basically says that because 365 is not divisible by 7, the same date falls on a different day of the week each year. So let's say this year January 1st is Tuesday and next year it is Wednesday and so on. The author argues that one way we could make sure that a specific date always falls on the same day of the week every year is to say that this additional day each year, day number 365, belongs to no week, then January 1st is always Sunday. The author never specifies which date it is, it could be an arbitrary date, let's say March 1st belongs to no week or it could be Dec 31st, the result is the same, we designate one day a year as "no week" day to keep all the other dates on the same weekday every year.

The question asks which of the following groups would have a scheduling issue with this proposal.

(A) people who have birthdays on December 30/ 31st

No. December 30th or 31st is going to be the same day of the week every single year, even if we designate it as "no week" day, then it is just a "no week" day every year and these people can plan accordingly.

(B) employed people whose religious observances require that they refrain from working every seventh day.

Correct. Now, the reference point for the day of the week is its relative order, so the first day of the week is always Monday, second is always Tuesday and so on. This proposal tells us that the reference point for each day of the week is the calendar date rather than its ordinal number, so what happens when we skip that "no week" day is that the 7th day now falls on what is only the 6th day of the week under the new system. It means that every year the 7th day shifts one or two days if it is a leap year, then the 7th day moves from Saturday to Friday and so on, and this is an issue for creating a work schedule for someone who observes every seventh day.

(C) school systems that require students to attend classes a specific number of days a year.

No. The number of days stays the same under either system.

(D) employed people who have three-day breaks from work when holidays are celebrated on Mondays or Fridays

No. These people would love the new system. Each holiday would be on the same day of the week every year, making it easy to plan a three-day vacation.

(E) people who have to plan events several years before those events occur

No, again these people will likely favor the new system. Would not it be nice to know that once you get married on a Saturday, your anniversary will always be on a Saturday?

Does that help?

Let me know if you have any further questions.

avif on June 4, 2020

Thanks for the explanation. I really had no idea what was going on in this question.