Happy Palindrome Week! What is it? This rare date phenomenon explained
Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this article misstated how frequently sets of palindrome dates occur.
The next 10 days have a little treat in store.
It's Palindrome Week, a week – well, 10 days – when each date can be read the same backward and forward.
Palindrome Week is unique to the few countries, such as the USA, that write dates in the month-day-year format (9-10-19). September's series of palindromes only work if the date is written with the last two digits of the year and no zero before the month — 09-10-2019 isn't a palindrome, for example.
Because much of the world formats dates as day-month-year, the mathematical oddity is mostly noted in the U.S.
Every year since 2011 has had 10 consecutive Palindrome Days, but only if it's written out a specific way.
In 2011, Aziz Inan, an engineering professor at the University of Portland, compiled a list of palindrome dates with the year fully written out, per NBC News. Tuesday, Sept. 10, is also a palindrome even if the whole year is written out.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Palindrome Week 2019: What is it? This rare date phenomenon explained
