Random Day of the Week Generator: A Wheel for Rotas and Plans: how it works
This random day of the week generator is a wheel of the seven days, so every day has a 1 in 7 chance. Each winner comes with the god or planet behind its name. Switch to Elimination and no day comes up twice, which makes a rota: a different day for each person or chore.
Draw days for a rota with no repeats
Write the names down first. Tap Elimination, so each winner leaves the wheel, then press Spin the wheel once per person and hand out the days in order. For office days, tap Monday to Friday first and spin three times: you get one of the 10 possible sets of three. Put them back refills the wheel.
Put names on the wheel, or only some days
Tap My list and type one name per line. With Elimination on, the first name out takes Monday, the second Tuesday and so on. Use the 7 days copies the days into your list, where you can delete any that do not count: leave Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for a training plan and each has a 1 in 3 chance.
Tips
- Spin seven times in Elimination and the whole week comes back shuffled, one of 5,040 possible orders.
- Language drill: say the winner in French (from Monday: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche) or Spanish (lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo).
- Israel and Saudi Arabia work Sunday to Thursday, and Nepal works Sunday to Friday. For a week like that, copy the seven days into My list and delete the days off.
Questions and answers
Why do the days of the week come in this order?
Ancient astrologers listed seven planets from slowest to fastest: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. Each hour belonged to the next planet in turn, and a day took the name of its first hour. Twenty-four hours is three rounds of seven plus 3, so each new day lands three places along: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus.
Which day is the first day of the week?
It depends on the calendar. ISO 8601, the international date standard, starts the week on Monday, and the wheel is laid out in that order. Many countries print Sunday first. On the wheel it changes nothing: all seven slices are the same size.
Does every day have the same chance?
Yes. Seven equal slices give each day 1 chance in 7, and a weekend day 2 in 7. A random calendar date is less even: 2027 has 53 Fridays and 52 of every other day. To watch chance at work, tap Tally and spin 70 times: the seven counts almost never all come out at 10.