Calendar – Fridays in August 1988: On which date in August 1988 did Friday first occur? (List-style dates like 5, 12, 19, 26 correspond to Fridays in that month.)

Introduction / Context:
Calendar questions often ask for specific weekdays on given dates. Here, we determine the dates in August 1988 that fall on Friday and identify the first such date. This uses weekday progression across a month once the weekday of the 1st is known.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Month: August 1988.
• We need the date of the first Friday in that month.
• Standard Gregorian calendar rules apply.

Concept / Approach:
The strategy is: (1) find the weekday of 1 August 1988; (2) move forward to the first Friday; (3) list the Friday pattern (adds of 7 days) to sanity-check. August has 31 days.

Step-by-Step Solution:
1) Determine weekday of 1 Aug 1988. It is a Monday (1988 is a leap year; known anchor dates place 1988-08-01 as Monday).2) From Monday, the next Friday is 4 days later: Monday→Friday = +4 days.3) First Friday date = 1 + 4 = 5.4) Subsequent Fridays occur on 12, 19, 26; the first Friday is the 5th.

Verification / Alternative check:
You can verify with any perpetual calendar method (e.g., Zeller-like congruences or known 1988 references) to confirm 1 Aug 1988 is Monday, making 5 Aug 1988 a Friday.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
4 → Thursday, not Friday. 14 or 17 → do not correspond to the first Friday; 14 is a Sunday; 17 is a Wednesday in that month.

Common Pitfalls:
Assuming the first Friday is the 7th because Fridays “feel” like weekends, or miscounting from the 1st without confirming the weekday.

Final Answer:
5