Dominical Letter - Dominical Letter of A Year

Dominical Letter of A Year

The dominical letter of a year is defined as the letter of the cycle corresponding to the day upon which the first Sunday (and thus every subsequent Sunday) falls. Leap years have two Dominical Letters, the second of which is the letter of the cycle preceding the first; the second letter describes the portion of the year after the leap day.

The Gregorian calendar repeats every four hundred years. Of the four hundred years in a Gregorian cycle, there are 43 common years with Dominical letter A, 43 common years with B, 43 with C, 43 with E, and 43 with G. Of common years with Dominical letter D and F, there are 44 for each. Of the leap years, there are 13 each with BA, DC, and GF; 14 each with ED and FE, and 15 each with AG and CB.

In the Julian calendar, the cycle is 28 years, 7 of which are leap years, and the remaining 21 are common years. Each of the seven Dominical letters is split evenly among the 21 common years, and each of the seven double letters for leap years, BA, CB, DC, ED, FE, GF, and AG, occur once in every 28-year cycle.

Read more about this topic:  Dominical Letter

Famous quotes containing the words letter and/or year:

    This letter will be delivered to you by my child,—the child of my adoption,—my affection! Unblest with one natural friend, she merits a thousand. I send her to you innocent as an angel, and artless as purity itself; and I send you with her the heart of your friend, the only hope he has on earth, the subject of his tenderest thoughts, and the object of his latest cares.
    Frances Burney (1752–1840)

    Material advancement has its share in moral and intellectual progress. Becky Sharp’s acute remark that it is not difficult to be virtuous on ten thousand a year has its applications to nations; and it is futile to expect a hungry and squalid population to be anything but violent and gross.
    Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)