FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH

Presenters: Group 4 (Tacloban City

OVERVIEW
The creepiest day on the calendar has returned: Friday the 13th. When it
comes to bad luck, there are few superstitions as pervasive in Western culture as that
of Friday the 13th.

There's even a name to describe the irrational dread of the date:

paraskevidekatriaphobia — a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a fear of the
number 13.
This year the inauspicious day occurs twice: January 13 and October 13, 2023. It
seems that no matter how many of these frightening Fridays we survive unharmed, the
dreaded day continues to inspire unease and fears of misfortune.

There's no logical reason to fear the occasional coincidence of any day and date
governed by the 400-year cycle of the Gregorian calendar. But Friday the 13th can still
have noticeable impacts. Sometimes we create them in our own minds—for good and
ill.

Jane Risen, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago Booth School of

Business, has found that superstitions can influence even nonbelievers. In one 2016
study, Risen found that people who identify as superstitious and non-superstitious
both believe a bad outcome is more likely when they've been jinxed. For example,
they worry that stating they definitely won't get into a car accident will make it more
likely to happen.

“Generally speaking, We find that this occurs because the bad outcome springs to
mind and is imagined more clearly following the jinx,” she explains. “People use the
ease of imagining something as a cue to its likelihood.”

This kind of thinking may be more widespread on Friday the 13th: “Even if we don't
actively believe, just that fact that Friday the 13th exists as a known cultural element
means that I entertain it as a possibility,” she says. When otherwise unremarkable
events occur on that date, we tend to notice.

“That adds a bit more fuel to this intuition, makes it feel a bit more true, even when you
recognize that it's not true.”
Fortunately, Risen's research also suggests that performing rituals that ward off bad
luck—like knocking on wood or throwing salt—can have surprising results. In a 2014
study, she found that some people use them even when they don't actively believe,
and when tested, both types of people reported benefits from such acts.

“We find that people who jinx themselves don’t think the bad outcome is especially
likely if they knock down on wood,” Risen says. “So, the ritual does seem to help
manage their concern.”

In that way, simply being aware of superstitions may help to instill a sense of order in
a world of random and uncontrollable worries, according to Rebecca Borah, a
professor of English at the University of Cincinnati.

"When you have rules and you know how to play by them, it always seems a lot
easier,". On Friday the 13th, "we don't do anything too scary today, or double-check
that there's enough gas in the car, or whatever it might be.”

“Some people may even stay at home—although statistically, most accidents happen
in the home, so that may not be the best strategy."

The origins of our Friday the 13th fears

It's difficult to pin down the origins and evolution of a superstition. But Stuart Vyse, an
author and former professor of psychology at Connecticut College in New London, that
our fear of Friday the 13th may be rooted in religious beliefs surrounding the 13th
guest at the Last Supper—Judas, the apostle said to have betrayed Jesus—and the
crucifixion of Jesus on a Friday, which was known as hangman's day. Also based on
Norse lore, it possibly began when 12 gods came together for a dinner party in Valhalla.
Loki, a mischievous god, crashed the party as the 13th guest, bringing all sorts of
mayhem in his wake.
The combination of those factors produced a "sort of double whammy of 13 falling on
an already nervous day," Vyse explained. Some biblical scholars also believe Eve
tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that Abel was slain by his
brother Cain on Friday the 13th.

Curiously, Spain appears to have escaped this malevolent marriage of number and
day. Friday the 13th is no cause for alarm there, and instead Tuesday the 13th is the
year's most dangerous date.

Other experts suspect even older roots for this form of triskaidekaphobia, the scientific
name for the fear of Friday the 13th. Thomas Fernsler, an associate policy scientist in
the Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center at the University of
Delaware in Newark, said the number 13 suffers because of its position after 12.
Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12
signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and
12 apostles of Jesus.

The number 13's association with bad luck "has to do with just being a little beyond
completeness. The number becomes restless or squirmy," he noted.

INTRODUCTION

Researchers contend that the superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th stem
from religious beliefs, but the most study suggests that the date in question is no more
unfortunate than other days on the year's calendar (Handwerk, 2023). While Friday the
13th seems to be an uncommon occurrence, our Gregorian calendar indicates that the
13th of any month is somewhat more probable to fall on a Friday than on any other day
of the week. It is, however, not a universal belief (Hastings, 2023). Tuesday the 13th is
considered to be an unlucky day in Greece and Spanish countries, while Friday the 17th
is feared in Italy. There is no rational explanation to be afraid of the occasional random
events of any day and date guided by the Gregorian calendar's 400-year cycle.
However, Friday the 13th continues to have an impact. We sometimes make them up in
our heads, for better or worse.

As a result, predicting how frequently this particular event occurs could assist
people in becoming conscious of these kinds of beliefs. As a result, this mathematical
investigation will find instances based on how frequently Friday the thirteenth occurs.

Conjectures:
1. Friday the thirteenth occurs at least once every year.
2. Friday the thirteenth occurs depending on the starting day of the year.
3. Every 28 years, the number of occurrences of Friday the thirteenth happens
again every year.

MATHEMATICAL IDEAS RELATED TO THE STUDY

The probability distribution and its mean, counting, and modulo were the
mathematical concepts used to generate and test the hypotheses that were followed by
the observation. (Shruti, 2023) A probability distribution is a function of statistics that
describes all of the potential outcomes and likelihoods for a random variable within a
given range. The probability distribution's mean would indicate how likely an event is to
occur.
MATERIALS

The materials that were used were a calendar, pieces of paper, a ballpen, and a
calculator. A calendar of different years was used to tally the months that have Friday
the thirteenth. Pieces of paper and ballpen were used to write those tallies in a table
form. A calculator was also used to calculate the tallies and some exploration of the
values.

MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES

The mathematical processes that were used are problem-solving,

selecting tools and computational strategies, connecting, representing, communicating,
and reasoning. These were essential to provide observations, create conjectures and
test the conjectures.

DISCUSSION AND RESULTS

Conjecture 1: Friday the thirteenth occurs at least once every year.

Table 1: Occurrences of Friday the Thirteenth Every Year From 1981 to 2057

YEA YEA
R NO. OF MONTHS YEAR NO. OF MONTHS R NO. OF MONTHS
1981 3 2009 3 2037 3
1982 1 2010 1 2038 1
1983 1 2011 1 2039 1
1984 3 2012 3 2040 3
1985 2 2013 2 2041 2
1986 1 2014 1 2042 1
1987 3 2015 3 2043 3
1988 1 2016 1 2044 1
1989 2 2017 2 2045 2
1990 2 2018 2 2046 2
1991 2 2019 2 2047 2
1992 2 2020 2 2048 2
1993 1 2021 1 2049 1
1994 1 2022 1 2050 1
1995 2 2023 2 2051 2
1996 2 2024 2 2052 2
1997 1 2025 1 2053 1
 1998 3 2026 3 2054 3
1999 1 2027 1 2055 1
2000 1 2028 1 2056 1
2001 2 2029 2 2057 2
2002 2 2030 2 2058 2
2003 1 2031 1 2059 1
2004 2 2032 2 2060 2
2005 1 2033 1 2061 1
2006 2 2034 2 2062 2
2007 2 2035 2 2063 2
2008 1 2036 1 2064 1

The table above shows the number of occurrences of Friday the Thirteenth for
each year from 1981 to 2057.

Table 2: Mean Probability Distribution of Number of Occurrences of Friday the

Thirteenth

Number of Frequency Probability X ∙P (X )

Occurrences (Number of Years) P(X)
(X)
1 36 3/7 3/7
2 36 3/7 6/7
3 12 1/7 3/7
Total: 84 12
µ = ∑ 𝑋𝑃(𝑥) = ≈ 1.7143
7

The table shows the mean of the probability distribution from the occurrences of
Friday the thirteenth for 84 years. This means that Friday the thirteenth occurs every
year 12/7 times or approximately 1.7143 times.

Conjecture 2. Friday the thirteenth occurs depending on the starting day of the
year.

Table 3: Starting Day of the Year and the Months with Friday the Thirteenth

Days of the Week Non-Leap Year Leap Year

Sunday January and October January, April, and July
Monday April and July September and December
Tuesday September and December June
Wednesday June March and November
Thursday February, March, and November February and August
 Friday August May
Saturday May October

The table shows the starting day of the year and the months that occur the Friday
the thirteenth.

Proof using Modulo (Magidin, 2011):

A month has a Friday 13th if and only if it begins on a Sunday.

On a regular (non-leap) year, if January begins on day k , 0 ≤ k ≤6 (with k=0 being

Sunday), then we have that:

 January begins on day k ;

 February begins on day k + 3 mod7 (since January has 31 days,
and 31 ≡3( mod7) ;
 March begins on day k + 3 mod7 ;
 April begins on day k + 6 mod 7.
 May begins on day k + 8=k +1mod 7 (since April has 30 days, and 30 ≡2 ¿);
 June begins on day k + 4 mod 7 ;
 July begins on day k + 6 mod 7;
 August begins on day k + 9=k +2 mod 7;
 September begins on day k +5 mod 7 ;

With these, we already have day k , k +1 , k +2 , k +3 , k + 4 , k +5 , and k + 6, so at least

one of these months will begin on Sunday, guaranteeing at least one Friday the 13th.

For Leap years, the analysis is similar, except that:

 January begins on day k ;

 February begins on day k + 3;
 March begins on day k + 4 ;
 April begins on day k ;
 May begins on day k + 2;
 June begins on day k +5 ;
 July begins on day k ;
 August begins on day k + 3;
 September begins on day k + 6;
 October begins on day k +1 ;
So, at the latest, you will have Friday 13th October.

Conjecture 3: Every 28 years, the number of occurrences of Friday the thirteenth

happens again every year.
 Month No. of Month No. of No. of
Year s Months Year s Months Year Months Months
Feb. - Feb. - Feb. -
Mar - Mar - Mar -
1981 Nov 3 2009 Nov 3 2037 Nov 3
1982 Aug 1 2010 Aug 1 2038 Aug 1
1983 May 1 2011 May 1 2039 May 1
Jan - Jan - Jan -
Apr - Apr - Apr -
1984 Jul 3 2012 Jul 3 2040 Jul 3
Sept - Sept - Sept -
1985 Dec 2 2013 Dec 2 2041 Dec 2
1986 June 1 2014 June 1 2042 June 1
Feb - Feb - Feb -
Mar - Mar - Mar -
1987 Nov 3 2015 Nov 3 2043 Nov 3
1988 May 1 2016 May 1 2044 May 1
Jan - Jan - Jan -
1989 Oct 2 2017 Oct 2 2045 Oct 2
Apr - Apr - Apr -
1990 July 2 2018 July 2 2046 July 2
Sept - Sept - Sept -
1991 Dec 2 2019 Dec 2 2047 Dec 2
Mar - Mar - Mar -
1992 Nov 2 2020 Nov 2 2048 Nov 2
1993 Aug 1 2021 Aug 1 2049 Aug 1
1994 May 1 2022 May 1 2050 May 1
Jan - Jan - Jan -
1995 Oct 2 2023 Oct 2 2051 Oct 2
Sept - Sept - Sept -
1996 Dec 2 2024 Dec 2 2052 Dec 2
1997 June 1 2025 June 1 2053 June 1
Feb - Feb - Feb -
March March March -
1998 - Nov 3 2026 - Nov 3 2054 Nov 3
1999 Aug 1 2027 Aug 1 2055 Aug 1
2000 Oct 1 2028 Oct 1 2056 Oct 1
Apr - Apr - Apr -
2001 July 2 2029 July 2 2057 July 2
Sept - Sept - Sept -
2002 Dec 2 2030 Dec 2 2058 Dec 2
2003 June 1 2031 June 1 2059 June 1
Feb - Feb - Feb -
2004 Aug 2 2032 Aug 2 2060 Aug 2
200 203
5 May 1 3 May 1 2061 May 1
200 Jan. - 203 Jan. - Jan. -
6 Oct 2 4 Oct 2 2062 Oct 2
200 Apr - 203 Apr - Apr -
7 July 2 5 July 2 2063 July 2
 200 203
8 June 1 6 June 1 2064 June 1

The table depicts a recurrence after a period of 28 years. This also

happens due to the reason that 28 is a multiple of 7 (weekdays in a week).

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCES:

Magidin, A. 2011. Prove that every year has at least one Friday the 13th, URL (version:

2011-08-23): https://math.stackexchange.com/q/59137

Handwerk, B. (2023, January 12). Here’s why Friday the 13th scares us. Science.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/what-is-friday-13th-

superstition-facts-science

Hastings, C. (2023, January 13). Why is Friday the 13th unlucky? The cultural origins of

an enduring superstition. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/why-friday-13-

unlucky-explained/index.html

M, S. (2023). What is Probability Distribution: Definition and its Types. Simplilearn.com.

https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/statistics-tutorial/what-is-probability-

distribution