Excerpt from The Texas Mathematics Teachers' Bulletin, Vol. 16: Number 2

In recent years there has been much discussion Of re forming the division Of the year into months and weeks. Our present system Of months is inherited from the Romans. When Julius Caesar made his reform in 46 b.c. He seems to have divided the year into 12 months Of 30 or 31 days each, except February, which had 29 days in ordinary years and 30 in leap years. At this period the year Of Office Of the consuls began on January 1, in early times the Roman year began on March 1, as is indicated by the names Of the last four months of the year, which are derived from the Latin words for seven, eight, nine, and ten, although they are now the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months. July and August in Caesar's time bore the names Of Quin tilis and Sextilis fifth and sixth months), but in 44 b.c. The name Quintilis was changed to July in his honor, and in 8 b.c. Sextilis was changed to August in honor Of the emperor Augustus. It is Often asserted that Augustus took a day from February and added it to August, either to make his month as long as Caesar's, or because Of a superstitious belief that even numbers were unlucky, but whether this is the true explanation Of our 28-day month cannot now be ascertained.

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