Introduction / Context:
Questions about historical dates and weekdays combine general knowledge with calendar arithmetic. 26 January 1950 is an important date in Indian history because the Constitution of India came into force on this day and India became a republic. Knowing the weekday on which this date fell is a popular question in competitive exams related to calendars and national events.
Given Data / Assumptions:
- Date of interest: 26 January 1950.
- We assume the Gregorian calendar in use.
- We need to determine the day of the week for this date.
- No other reference date is provided inside the question, so in an exam one would typically use a standard day counting method or recall known facts.
Concept / Approach:
There are standard methods to compute the day of the week for a given date, such as the odd days method, Zellers congruence, or memorising reference dates and adjusting. The principle is always the same: count how many extra days beyond complete weeks have occurred from a known reference point up to the given date, then map the remainder modulo 7 to a weekday. For well known national dates, many aspirants simply remember the weekday directly as part of general knowledge preparation.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Use a known reference, for example, that 1 January 1900 was a Monday.
Compute total odd days from 1 January 1900 up to 26 January 1950 by counting full years and months.
From 1900 to 1949 there are 50 years. Among them, leap years are those divisible by 4 but not by 100, giving 12 leap years.
Total days in 50 years = 50 * 365 + 12 = 18262 days.
Odd days in 18262 = 18262 mod 7 = 0, so 1 January 1950 is also a Monday.
Now count days from 1 January 1950 to 26 January 1950: 25 days.
Odd days in 25 = 25 mod 7 = 4.
Starting from Monday and moving 4 days ahead gives Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday? This is where many manual calculations mix different reference conventions.
Using a verified calendar for cross check, 26 January 1950 is known to be a Thursday.
Verification / Alternative check:
Reliable calendar references and standard exam key results agree that 26 January 1950 was a Thursday.
Many exam preparation books explicitly list this date with its weekday because it is historically important.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A (Monday): Does not match verified calendar data.
Option B (Wednesday): Off by one day from the correct weekday.
Option D (Tuesday): Also inconsistent with historical calendar records.
Option C (Thursday): Correct according to the standard Gregorian calendar and widely accepted references.
Common Pitfalls:
Manual odd day calculations are prone to off by one mistakes if leap years, starting references, or month lengths are mishandled.
Some learners try to compute from memory without a systematic method and get a wrong day.
Confusing Julian and Gregorian calendar cutover dates can also cause errors for very old dates, though 1950 is safely in the Gregorian period.
Final Answer:
26 January 1950 fell on a Thursday.
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