I can see why this calendar problem might seem tricky at first - we're dealing with multiple years and a leap year thrown in. Let me walk you through the key insight that makes this much simpler than it appears.
Here's how to think about this systematically:The beautiful thing about day-of-week problems is that days repeat every 7 days. So instead of trying to count 5 years worth of days, you just need to find how many "extra" days beyond complete weeks passed between these dates.
Step 1: Count the total daysFrom June 25, 1982 to June 25, 1987 is exactly 5 years.
- Normal years: \(5 \times 365 = 1825\) days
- But 1984 was a leap year, so add 1 day: \(1825 + 1 = 1826\) total days
Step 2: Use the 7-day cycle principle Since days repeat every 7 days, you only need the remainder when dividing by 7:
\(1826 \div 7 = 260\) remainder \(6\)
You can verify: \(260 \times 7 = 1820\), and \(1826 - 1820 = 6\)
Step 3: Count forward from FridayStarting from Friday (June 25, 1982), count 6 days forward:
Friday → Saturday → Sunday → Monday → Tuesday → Wednesday →
ThursdayAnswer: E. ThursdayNotice how the leap year is crucial here - without that extra day, you'd have gotten Wednesday instead. The modular arithmetic approach saves you from counting over 1,800 days individually!
Want to master the systematic framework for all calendar problems? You can check out the
comprehensive solution on Neuron to see the complete pattern recognition approach and common trap avoidance techniques. You can also practice with detailed solutions for
many other official questions on Neuron to build consistent accuracy across all problem types.