Months - Math Is Fun

Months

There are twelve months in a year:

Here they are in detail:

Month Number	Month	In 3 letters	Days in Month
1	January	Jan	31
2	February	Feb	28 (29 in leap years)
3	March	Mar	31
4	April	Apr	30
5	May	May	31
6	June	Jun	30
7	July	Jul	31
8	August	Aug	31
9	September	Sep	30
10	October	Oct	31
11	November	Nov	30
12	December	Dec	31

February

The strangest month of all is February.

February has only 28 days, but on Leap Years February has 29 days!

How to Remember

To remember how many days in each month use this rhyme:

30 days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31 Except February alone, Which has 28 days clear And 29 in each leap year.

Or there is the "knuckle method":

A knuckle is 31 days, and in between each knuckle it isn't. Where the hands meet the two knuckles are July and August, which both have 31 days. The last knuckle isn't used.

Example: October is on a knuckles, so it has 31 days

But November is not on a knuckle (and in this case has 30 days)

See The Days in Each Month

See the days in each month (use the arrows to change the month):

images/calendar.js

Explore Your World

Look at a calendar! Can you find a month with a special event, like a holiday or birthday? How many days are in that month?

The Moon

The months were originally based on the movement of the moon (the words moon and month are related), but this did not work out perfectly to one year.

So they changed how many days in some months to make them all add up to one year.

Fun Facts!

Ancient Romans had 10 Months:

• Martius for the god Mars
• Aprilis (aperio is Latin for "open", and flowers blossom in this month)
• Maius for the goddess Maia
• Iunius for the goddess Juno
• Quintilis from Latin quinque meaning five
• Sextilis for six
• Septembris for seven
• Octobris for eight
• Novembris for nine
• Decembris for ten (remember "Decimal" means based on 10)

Then around 710 BC Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, added January (for the god Janus) and February (from Latin februum meaning purification).

Unfortunately this wrecked the nice numbering system of the later months.

Many years later (44 BC) Quintilis was renamed Iulius (July) in honour of Julius Caesar, and in 8 BC Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August) in honour of Augustus.

1021, 1022, 1023, 1024, 3671, 3672, 3673, 3674, 3675, 3676 12 Month Calendar Seasons Days Weeks Years Introduction to Days, Weeks, Months and Years Measurement Index