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smc

number theory senior

Problem

A year is a leap year if and only if the year number is divisible by 400 (such as 2000) or is divisible by 4 but not 100 (such as 2012). The 200th anniversary of the birth of novelist Charles Dickens was celebrated on February 7, 2012, a Tuesday. On what day of the week was Dickens born?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
In this solution we refer to moving to the left as decreasing the year or date number and moving to the right as increasing the year or date number. Every non-leap year we move to the right results in moving one day to the right because . Every leap year we move to the right results in moving days to the right since . A leap year is usually every four years, so 200 years would have = leap years, but the problem says that 1900 does not count as a leap year. Therefore there would be 151 regular years and 49 leap years, so = days back. Since , four days back from Tuesday would be .
Final answer
A