8-1-18 the first of 11 palindrome dates this month
EUGENE, Ore. - August 1, 2018 - expressed as 8-1-18 - is the first palindrome date of the year in the United States, according to University of Portland professor Aziz Inan.
But it won't be the last.
"There are 11 palindrome days this year, all to occur this month between today and August 19 (8/19/18)," Inan wrote Wednesday.
A palindrome is a word, number or phrase that reads the same, forward and backwards, like "radar" or "Madam I'm Adam."
Inan noted that 8-10-18 will also be a palindrome when expressed as the full date, 8-10-2018.
But what about elsewhere in the world, where the date August 1, 2018, is expressed not as month-day-year - like 8-1-18 - but as day-month-year, like 1-8-18?
They'll have to wait until October for their next palindrome day.
"In the rest of the world, 8/10/2018 will occur on 8 October 2018," Inan said. "Also, they don’t have 11, they have only 4 palindrome dates this year instead of 11."
If this all seems trivial, consider:
"There are 38 full-date palindrome dates in this century and 8/10/2018 is the 11th one of the 38. Further, it coincides with the 222nd day of 2018 which makes it more special," Inan said. "Note that palindrome dates expressed with 2-digit year numbers only repeat every century such as 8/1/18."
Still with us?
Inan charted out all of the palindrome dates of the 21st century, just in case you want to plan ahead after this August's 11 reversible dates have passed.
