Students in Mathematics have been using a lesser known formula of Gauss. Many mathematicians have heard of Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), a mathematical genius who had a significant influence in the fields of Mathematics and Science. Probably the most famous anecdote about Gauss is that at the age of only seven he took seconds to add all the numbers from 1 to 100, although accounts vary as to whether this task was set as classwork or as a punishment, and some cynics question if it is actually a myth.
Gauss was a German Lutheran Protestant but in 1802 he published this formula to calculate the English date for the first day for Pesach in any year – which English date corresponds to the 15th Nissan:
Students at JFS have been working through this formula and have verified that it works for this year (5781). As one Year 11 student commented, “It is amazing that he could come up with this over 200 years ago” and as another pointed out, “they didn’t even have calculators then!”
Click HERE for the full details of the formula and how to use it.