Happy New Year, Happy 2015, Happy 11111011111 which is, of course, 2015 in binary, Base 2.*
And its a palindrome, which, as you know, I like.
Speaking of palindromes, Monday is not only the first day back at school, its also the first palindromic date of the year:
5 1 15
and we won’t see another palindromic date until October when we get one a month for the last three months of the year:
5 10 15
5 11 15
5 12 15
The 6th October is an interesting date as it is a Triangle Day:
6 10 15
as 6, 10, 15 are three consecutive triangle numbers.
(American) Pi Day, 3.14, is particularly good this year (remember, Americans write the month, then the day) as it becomes:
3.14 15
which is Pi to the first 4 decimal places. An if you want to be really precise, make a note of what you are do at 9.26 and 53 seconds as it will be:
3.14 15 9 26 53
Pi to nine decimal places.
As ever, there are always a few ‘n’ days, the first of which is 5 October:
5 10 15 or 5n
some other ‘n’ days are:
1 8 15 or 7n – 6
3 9 15 or 6n – 3
7 11 15 or 4n + 3
9 12 15 or 3n + 6
I’m sure you spotted a pattern in those dates – perhaps your pupils could too?
With a little poetic licence, we have 30 – 5n day on the 2nd May (2 5 2015) Geddit?!
And of course, every year we have Approximate Pi day on 22/7 and the Root of All Evil Day on 25th August.
With so many exciting dates, there’s plenty to look forward to in 11111011111, sorry, 2015.
Happy New Year!
*I always think that it is a shame that different number bases is not part of the curriculum. Perhaps that’s a post for another day.
I converted 2015 into binary using this site.
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