New York, Jan 2 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Numerically today 2nd January 2010 is a Palindrome Day. As the date 02-01-2010 is the same backwards too. And this is quite a rare feat as in the last 6 centuries it has happened for just the second time.

In the usual month-day-year format (MM-DD-YYYY), today’s date can be written as 01-02-2010, which is the numerical version of a palindrome. A palindrome is a word that is read the same backwards as well as in the usual forward sense. So it is a word (rotator) or phrase that reads the same backward and forward. And the last time this rare feat happened was Oct. 2, 2001 — or 10-02-2001 — said Aziz Inan, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Portland.

And prior to this it happened centuries back. “The amazing thing is, the one before that was Aug. 31, 1380 or 08-31-1380,” said Inan, a math puzzle enthusiast. “That was 620 years ago.” And the next Palindrome day will happen on Nov. 2, 2011 or 11-02-2011.

“Palindrome dates are notably rare. They only occur in the first few centuries of a millennium,” said Inan, who was featured last week on the puzzle corner of the New York Times’ Web site.

The 36th and last palindrome date of this millennium will occur on Sept. 22, 2290. The next one after that will be Oct. 3, 3001.

“My hobby is playing with ages and numbers and historical dates. That’s how I stumbled on this,” he said. He added that he started researching on palindromes because he has a fascination with numbers.

21st-century palindrome dates

10-02-2001
01-02-2010
11-02-2011
02-02-2020
12-02-2021
03-02-2030
04-02-2040
05-02-2050
06-02-2060
07-02-2070
08-02-2080
09-02-2090