In the U.S., we often write dates such as July 4, 1776, as 7/4/76. In other countries, the month is given second and the same date is often written as 4/7/76. If you do not know which system is being used, how many dates in a year are ambiguous?
144
132
100
Depends on leap year
Explain how you arrived at that answer.
If one of the numbers is greater than 12, there is no problem, that cannot represent a month.
so any day with 1 to 12 in either the first or second position, or 12 x 12 = 144
BUT, dates like 1/1/76, 2/2/76, ... 12/12/76 pose no problem
so the number which are ambiguous = 144 - 12 = 132
(I often run into this problem up here in Canada when dealing with correspondence with the US, but not with correspondence from anywhere else.
We have had cases where Canadians who had to buy extra health insurance while traveling in the US, were denied coverage by the US insurance company because they filled in their birth date using the universal system rather than the US system of writing dates )
Thank you soo much for your help.
We lived in Winnipeg for 2 1/2 years.
It was a great experience, but gave us
a new respect for 30 degrees below zero
winters. Having come from the deep south it was a huge adjustment. Now living again in the deep south U.S. but enjoying our memorable experiences in Wpg.
I have been to Winnipeg only a few times, and only in the summer. Then the opposite was true, +35° C .
Living in the "balmy" southern part of Ontario we have not experienced -30 for several years now. Every new year seems to set a new record was "warmest winter on record".
To determine how many dates in a year are ambiguous when different date formats are used, we need to consider the different possibilities and calculate for each one.
In the U.S., the common date format is Month/Day/Year, while in other countries, it is Day/Month/Year. In both cases, we assume a two-digit year, like '76' in the given example.
To calculate the number of ambiguous dates, we need to consider two scenarios:
1. Dates with the same month and day:
In this case, both date formats will present the same value. For example, if the actual date is July 4th, both formats will show 7/4/76 for the U.S. format and 4/7/76 for the other format. Therefore, each date with the same month and day will count as one ambiguous date.
To calculate the number of ambiguous dates with the same month and day, we need to consider that there are 12 possible values for the month (1 to 12) and 31 possible values for the day (1 to 31). So, there are 12 * 31 = 372 possible dates with the same month and day in a year.
2. Dates with different month and day:
In this case, the U.S. format (Month/Day/Year) and the other format (Day/Month/Year) will present different values. For example, if the actual date is July 4th, the U.S. format will show 7/4/76, while the other format will show 4/7/76. Therefore, each date with different month and day will not be ambiguous.
To calculate the number of dates that are not ambiguous, we need to consider that there are 12 possible values for the month and 31 possible values for the day. Therefore, there are 12 * 31 = 372 possible dates that are not ambiguous in a year.
So, the total number of ambiguous dates is the difference between the total number of dates and the number of dates that are not ambiguous:
Total number of ambiguous dates = Total number of dates - Number of dates that are not ambiguous
Total number of ambiguous dates = 366 (in a leap year) or 365 (in a non-leap year) - 372 (dates with different month and day)
From the provided answer choices, we can see that the correct answer is "Depends on leap year" because the number of ambiguous dates will differ between a leap year and a non-leap year.