The Bully Mnemonic is a technique for remembering the exact number of seconds that occur in Earth's sidereal year and tropical year, a good approximation of the Earth's Great Year, and a rough approximation of the Solar System's galactic year.

Tropical Year


The following relationships are encoded in the Bully Mnemonic:


Bully Mnemonic Steps

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Initial Definitions

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Step 1

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The first step is to write down the first five digits:

 

Step 2

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The second step is to select odd digits and intersperse them with zeros to form integers a) and b) as shown below: (important to remember that the first integer ends with 33 followed by a 0, whereas the second integer ends with 55 with no trailing 0)

 

   

Step 3

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The third step is to select even digits and define numbers c) and d) as shown below:

 

   

Sidereal & Tropical Years

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Step 4

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Multiply integers a) and b) from Step 2 to get the total number of seconds in a sidereal year.

 

Using Long Multiplication:

       3055
×     10330
————————————
       0000
      9165
     9165
    0000
   3055
————————————
   31558150

Step 5

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The tropical year has a slightly shorter duration than the sidereal year. The approximate number of seconds in a tropical year is obtained by reducing integer a) by amount d), and then multiplying by b).

 

The exact number of seconds in a tropical year is obtained by reducing integer a) by amount d), multiplying by b), and then reducing by c).

 

Using the Distributive Property of Multiplication:

(10330 - 0.40) × 3055 = (10330 × 3055) - (0.40 × 3055)
                      =    31558150    -     1222
                      =    31556928

Great Years

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Step 6

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The Great Year is, by definition, a least common multiple of the sidereal year and the tropical year. From steps 4 and 5 above, we have that the ratio of tropical years to sidereal years is:

 

Divide top and bottom by amount d) and use the Distributive Property of Multiplication to obtain:

 

From whence:

 

Consequently:

 

Finally:

 

In terms of Long Multiplication; 0.40, 25825, and 10330 are related as follows:

       0.40
×  25825
————————————
       2.00
      08.0
     320
    200
   080
————————————
   10330.00

Galactic Years

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Step 7

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Multiply integer c) by the square of integer a) to get a rough approximate galactic year (the number of tropical years required for the Solar System to orbit once around the galactic center).

 

Using Long Multiplication:

       10330
×      10330
——————————————
       00000
      30990
     30990
    00000
   10330
——————————————
   106708900

And finally:

106708900 × 2 = 213417800