0505 2020 is not palindrome…

…but it is ‘something’, and that something is ‘curious’.

It is the sort of date that grabs attention visually but needs a rule (in this case application of a ‘digital font’) in order for it to become outstanding.

‘Outstanding’ – remember that word for a minute or two.

Just as we can apply a digital rule to 0202 2020 (which is a palindrome) and get a “ah cool” response when we rotate it on a plain (i.e. in 2D) by 180 degrees, we can do something similar with 0505 2020.

Here is the puzzle…

What are the different ways to show this is an interesting date? (albeit in a digital font)

Have a think. There are at least 3 ways.

When you are ready, scroll down for the answer…

  1. The first is to say the numbers on the left are a mirror image of the numbers to the right i.e. mirrored around the central line, or
  2. Next, you could ‘fold the dates’ at the centre (moving 90 degrees on each side) and they would match each other
  3. Also, you can move the entire string of numbers in 3D space by 180 degrees.
    Imagine fixing the numbers at the middle, and pushing back the numbers from the right until they appear to the left, but ‘back to front’.
    You should well see the same numbers that we started with.

Here is a ‘bonus puzzle’ – in language, without talking about mirrors or angles, or moving ‘anything’: [What A] becomes [What B] from the left side to the right side?

Answer: 2’s become 5’s, and 5’s become 2’s.

(beautiful simplicity provided here by Elisa)

This reminds me of Escher’s Birds into Fishes.