Rare 8-Digit Palindrome Occurred on Today’s Date – What is it, and When is the Next One

Today’s date, when written in the MM/DD/YYYY format, common in the United States but not in Europe, is what is known as a Palindrome. Today was 11022011. The term palindrome means that the number is the same whether written forward or backwards.

While 8-digit palindromes are rare, there will be 12 of them during this first century of the millennium. The first palindrome occurred in 2001 on 10-02-2001, the second was in January of last year (01-02-2010). The final palindrome will be in just under 80 years from now on 09-02-2090.

While the frequency during this century makes the palindromes seem a little common, consider that the most recent one prior to 2001 was over 600 years ago, before Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. That palindrome was on the last day of August in 1380 (08311380).

Consider yourself lucky, if your like rare number events like this, in that everyone who was born and died from 1380 until 2001 never saw a date with an 8-digit palindrome.