Why are there 52 weeks in a year and not 48 weeks given that there are only 4 weeks per month (4 x 12 = 48)?
The reason a year has 52 weeks instead of 48, despite the common perception that each month has four weeks, lies in the way our calendar is structured around the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
A year is the time it takes for the Earth to complete one full orbit around the Sun, which is approximately 365.25 days. This is known as a solar year. To accommodate the fraction of a day (0.25), the calendar includes a leap year every four years, adding an extra day to February.
A week is universally defined as seven days. When you divide the 365 days of a year by seven, you get approximately 52.14 weeks. Thus, a year contains a bit more than 52 weeks, which translates to 52 full weeks plus one extra day (or two in a leap year).
The misconception of there being “four weeks per month” arises because four weeks (28 days) is close to the length of a typical month, but not exact. Most months have either 30 or 31 days, with February having 28 days (29 in a leap year). This means that, while some months may be roughly four weeks long, others are longer.
If we had only 48 weeks in a year, this would mean the year would consist of just 336 days (48 weeks × 7 days per week), which is significantly shorter than the actual length of a solar year (365.25 days). To maintain alignment with the Earth’s orbit, our calendar includes 52 weeks, ensuring that the passage of days, weeks, and months accurately reflects the time it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.