Page 264 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

248 • Chapter 7

Decimal part of answer
Remainder (if you used a calculator) Day of the Week

1 0.14285714 . . . Sunday
2 0.28571428 . . . Monday
3 0.42857142 . . . Tuesday
4 0.57142857 . . . Wednesday
5 0.71428571 . . . Thursday
6 0.85714285 . . . Friday
0 0 Saturday

So, February 6, 1897 was on a Saturday. Try this calcula-
tion with a date of your choice.

Number of Days in Each Month
You may recall the jingle for remembering the number of days
in each month. “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and
November. All the rest have 31, except February.” This is an
example of a mnemonic device. This works very well for an
auditory learner. However, a kinesthetic or visual learner may
experience difficulty remembering the order of the months in
that device. A visual learner may remember the number of
days in a month by remembering what a calendar looks like.
For a kinesthetic learner, there is another way to remember the
number of days in a month. It uses your hands as a tool. Make
a pair of fists, as shown in Figure 7-8.
Notice that your knuckles form peaks and valleys. Start at
the left hand, first knuckle, and recite the months of the year, in
order, using peaks and valleys. When you run out of knuckles
on your left hand, go to your right hand for August on the first
knuckle. Continue until you reach December. Notice that all of
the months you named by a knuckle have 31 days. Those you
named by a valley do not. All of those months, except Febru-
ary, have 30 days. Most people remember about February.
As an exercise, explain this calendar mechanism to some-
one. Tell him it is a great mnemonic device—a handy digital
device, solar powered, and pocket-sized.