February 12, 2021. A fairly ordinary date when the month is written out, but turn it all into numbers and it becomes something much more special.
Okay, ‘much more special’ might be pushing it a little, but noteworthy dates only come along once in a while, so we may as well make the most of it while it’s here.
You might notice that today’s date is made up of only three numbers; zero, one and two. These numbers also just so happen to fall into a pattern which reads the same backwards as it does forwards, otherwise known as a palindrome.
As well as forming a palindrome, the collection of numbers that make up today’s date are also special for another reason.
Not only can they be read back to front, but also upside down. This is also true of a few other digits, like 8 and 5, but we’ll forget about those for now, since they don’t feature in today’s date.
Figures that can be read upside down can be described as ambigrams, which are designs that can be interpreted in different directions.
Did you know today’s date is both a palindrome and an ambigram? This means you can read the date from left to right, from right to left and also upside down! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/biUOTJcrxY
— LSE Mathematics (@LSEMaths) February 12, 2021
