In this trick question about the calendar, how many months of the year have 28 days?

Introduction / Context:
This is a very popular trick question that checks whether you pay attention to the exact wording or jump to a quick conclusion based on common knowledge. Many people think immediately about February, which is famous for having 28 days in a normal year and 29 days in a leap year. However, the riddle does not ask which month has only 28 days; it asks how many months have 28 days. This small difference in wording completely changes the correct answer and is an excellent reminder to read logical puzzles very carefully.

Given Data / Assumptions:

- A standard year has 12 months. - February has 28 days in a normal year and 29 days in a leap year. - All other months have either 30 or 31 days. - The riddle asks how many months have 28 days, not how many have exactly 28 days. - We consider the usual Gregorian calendar used in everyday life.

Concept / Approach:
The concept is simple but subtle. Every calendar month, whether it has 30 days or 31 days, must also pass through day number 28. That means that all 12 months have at least 28 days. The trick is that many candidates mentally rephrase the question as which month has only 28 days and then answer February, missing the actual logic involved. The correct approach is to check the set of all months and see whether each month includes a 28th day. Once that is clear, the answer becomes straightforward.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: List all months of the year: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. Step 2: Recall the number of days in each month. Some have 30 days, some have 31, and February usually has 28. Step 3: Observe that if a month has 30 days, it definitely has day number 28 among its dates. Step 4: Similarly, if a month has 31 days, it also has day number 28 as part of its calendar. Step 5: February clearly has day 28 as well, because that is its last day in a normal year. Step 6: Conclude that every single month includes a 28th day, regardless of whether it goes up to 30 or 31. Step 7: Therefore, all 12 months satisfy the condition have 28 days.

Verification / Alternative check:
To verify, you can look at an actual calendar for any year. Check January: you will find dates such as 28 January. Check March: you will see 28 March. In fact, for each month there is a date labeled 28. Only February has exactly 28 days in a non leap year, but the question does not use the word exactly. Because the question is about having 28 days at all, not exclusively, the count of months that meet this condition is clearly 12. This cross check with a physical or digital calendar confirms the logical reasoning.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Answers like 1, 5, 6, or 7 come from misreading the riddle. If you think which month has only 28 days, you might say 1 for February. If you confuse leap years or misremember the lengths of months, you might guess a different number. However, all of these ignore the crucial detail that every month proceeds through day 28. Since none of the options except 12 correctly counts all months in which the 28th day exists, the others are logically inconsistent with the true wording of the question.

Common Pitfalls:
The main pitfall is rushing to answer February without reading the question slowly. Competitive exams intentionally use such questions to penalize careless reading. Another common error is focusing too much on the special behavior of February in leap years, which is irrelevant here. To avoid these mistakes, train yourself to pay close attention to quantifiers like only, at least, or exactly. In this riddle, the absence of the word only is the crucial clue that changes the result from 1 to 12.

Final Answer:
All months contain a 28th day, so 12 months of the year have 28 days.