Perpetual calendar

Perpetual calendar

A perpetual calendar is a calendar which is good for a span of many years, such as the Runic calendar.

General information

For the Gregorian calendar, a perpetual calendar often consists of 14 one-year calendars, plus a table to show which one-year calendar is to be used for any given year. Note that such a perpetual calendar fails to indicate the dates of moveable feasts such as Easter.

The Perpetual Calendar has 14 one-year calendars, one for each common year (year that does not have a February 29) that starts on each day of the week, and one for each leap year that starts on each day of the week.

Also certain calendar reforms may be considered to be perpetual calendars, such as The World Calendar, International Fixed Calendar and Pax Calendar. These calendars have each year and each month within the year, always beginning on the same day of week.

The term perpetual calendar is also used in watchmaking to describe a calendar mechanism in a watch that displays the date correctly 'perpetually', taking into account the different lengths of the months as well as leap year's day.

Perpetual calendar formula

Following is a formula for calculating the day of the week given the date.

The formula uses the fact that each year begins one day later than the previous except for leap years. The days in a leap year are 2 days later except for January and February where it is one day later. Since the year values increase by one we can create a sequence by adding the year to the year divided by 4 dropping the fraction. This sequence increases by 1 every year except every 4 years where it increases by 2. This sequence will work for the years 1901 through 2099 only since 1900 and 2100 are not leap years.

A table is needed to get the relative day of week of the first of each month relative to the first day of a year. Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rel day 0 3 3 6 1 4 6 2 5 0 3 5

Now for the formula (example for 2006-02-15).

Add the following:The 4 digit year (2006).The integer portion of the year divided by 4 (501).The relative month code (3).The day of the month (15).If it is a leap year and January or February then subtract 1 (0).Adjust the relative week day by subtracting 2 (2525-2).Divide by 7 keeping the remainder (3).

Use this number to find the day as follows:
0-Sunday 1-Monday 2-Tuesday 3-Wednesday 4-Thursday 5-Friday 6-Saturday

ee also

*Calculating the day of the week
*Doomsday (weekday)
*Perpetual Calendar of 800 Years

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/my/zelime/calendar.html A perpetual calendar]
*, "Calendar".
* [http://www.accuracyproject.org/perpetualcalendars.html 1801-2100 Perpetual Calendar] at Internet Accuracy Project
* [http://5ko.free.fr/en/year.php Another perpetual Calendar]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Perpetual calendar — Perpetual Per*pet u*al, a. [OE. perpetuel, F. perp[ e]tuel, fr. L. perpetualis, fr. perpetuus continuing throughout, continuous, fr. perpes, etis, lasting throughout.] Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time; unfailing;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Perpetual calendar — Calendar Cal en*dar, n. [OE. kalender, calender, fr. L. kalendarium an interest or account book (cf. F. calendrier, OF. calendier) fr. L. calendue, kalendae, calends. See {Calends}.] 1. An orderly arrangement of the division of time, adapted to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Perpetual calendar — Per*pet u*al cal en*dar A calendar that can be used perpetually or over a wide range of years. That of Capt. Herschel covers, as given below, dates from 1750 to 1961 only, but is capable of indefinite extension. PERPETUAL CALENDARDay of the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • perpetual calendar — n. 1. a calendar mathematically arranged so that the correct day of the week can be determined for any given date over a wide range of years 2. a desk calendar adjustable for each of many years …   English World dictionary

  • perpetual calendar — 1. a calendar devised to be used for many years, as in determining the day of the week on which a given date falls. 2. a desk calendar with months, days, and dates that can be changed, as by adjusting various dials, so that it may be used over… …   Universalium

  • perpetual calendar — noun a calendar in which the day, the month, and the date are adjusted independently to show any combination of the three …   English new terms dictionary

  • perpetual calendar — perpet′ual cal′endar n. hor a calendar devised to be used for many years, as one for determining the day of the week on which a given date falls • Etymology: 1890–95 …   From formal English to slang

  • perpetual calendar — noun a chart or mechanical device that indicates the days of the week corresponding to any given date over a long period of years • Hypernyms: ↑calendar …   Useful english dictionary

  • perpetual calendar — noun Date: 1895 a table for finding the day of the week for any one of a wide range of dates …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Perpetual — Per*pet u*al, a. [OE. perpetuel, F. perp[ e]tuel, fr. L. perpetualis, fr. perpetuus continuing throughout, continuous, fr. perpes, etis, lasting throughout.] Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time; unfailing; everlasting;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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