On Tue, 15 May 2018 21:26:37 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
wrote:
Mercury, on the other hand, takes exactly *one* year to make a
complete circle
of the Zodiac, as seen from the Earth - because it never gets very
far from the
Sun as we see it from our vantage point.

The retrograde loops in that one year circle around the Earth...
reflect
Mercury's actual motion around the Sun.

If so, why is the number of retrograde loops of Mercury as seen from
the Earth during one Earth year one less than the number of
revolutions of Mercury around the Sun during the same time period?