Rosh Hashana Calculations

[Henry Gould]

Putting religious numbers sequences into OEIS troubles me. For a 
beginning example, the precise day that Ramadan beings in subject to 
widely different interpretations. One authoritative source believes it 
is one day and others thins it is another day. Some people are very 
strict and say it begins when the leader actually SEES the new moon.

In short I believe these kinds of numbers are too variable to deserve 
any mention in OEIS.

Does anyone else agree?

These matters like some other recreational sequences are just too vague 
for my taste. Likewise the planet numbers, atomic weights, binding 
energies, etc. and most physical constants. They just do not belong in 
OEIS, which ought to be concerned with validly defined MATHEMATICAL 
sequences, not artificially contrived and religious numbers. I do not 
even believe the ushango numbers from the African bone constitute a 
validly defined sequence so I think OEIS is getting toltally wild and 
unpleasing if you let these thing in. They belong in an amusement 
category on another website.

Henry Gould

Hans Havermann wrote:
> Brendan McKay:
>
>> A Jewish calendar on the web that has been thoroughly tested is here:
>>
>>    http://www.jewishgen.org/jos/
>>
>
> That's great. Thank you so much. I was able to tabulate the data 
> available there and confirm that my formula agrees with it for the 
> years 1753-2238. And using those dates, I can now revisit the original 
> "Years when Ramadan and Rosh Hashana coincide" table:
>
> Year   Ramadan   Rosh Hashana
>
> 1777      10/3      10/2
> 1778      9/23      9/22
> 1779      9/12      9/11
>
> 1810      9/30      9/29
> 1811 =    9/19      9/19
> 1812       9/8       9/7
>
> 1843 =    9/25      9/25
> 1844 =    9/14      9/14
>
> 1875      10/1      9/30
> 1876      9/20      9/19
> 1877       9/9       9/8
>
> 1908      9/27      9/26
> 1909 =    9/16      9/16
>
> 1940 =    10/3      10/3*
> 1941 =    9/22      9/22*
> 1942 =    9/12      9/12
>
> 1973      9/28      9/27
> 1974      9/18      9/17*
> 1975       9/7       9/6
>
> 2005 =    10/4      10/4
> 2006      9/24      9/23
> 2007 =    9/13      9/13
>
> 2038 =    9/30      9/30*
> 2039 =    9/19      9/19*
> 2040 =     9/8       9/8
>
> 2071      9/25      9/24
> 2072      9/14      9/13*
>
> 2103      10/3      10/2
> 2104      9/21      9/20
> 2105 =    9/10      9/10
>
> 2136 =    9/27      9/27
> 2137 =    9/16      9/16
>
> 2168 =    10/3      10/3
> 2169      9/22      9/21
> 2170      9/12      9/11
>
> 2201      9/30      9/29
> 2202      9/19      9/18
> 2203 =     9/8       9/8
>
> 2233      10/6      10/5
> 2234 =    9/25      9/25
> 2235 =    9/14      9/14
>
> *'s are corrected Rosh Hashana dates. Three consecutive coincidental 
> years are rather special, appearing only twice: 1940-1942 and 2038-2040.
>
>