Counting the years
2013 might look an uninteresting number for a year but it is in fact a mathematical rarity: a year whose digits, when rearranged, can form a simple arithmetic progression: i.e. 0,1,2,3.
— The last such year was 1432. The next will be 2031, after which we will have to wait until 2103 for the next one.
— The good news, for those who believe in ominous dates, is that nothing terribly bad happened in 1432. Florence defeated Siena at the Battle of San Romano, there was a civil war in Lithuania and a small revolt against the Ottoman Empire in Albania.
Faith, hope and quinoa
2013 will be the:
— International Year of Quinoa (a South American grain), according to the UN
— European Year of Citizens, according to the European Commission
— Year of Faith, according to the Pope
— Year of the Mathematics of Planet Earth, according to a group of scientific societies
— Year of Statistics, according to another set of learned societies
— Year of the Student, according to a consortium of student unions in Colorado
— Year of Creating Jobs for Emiratis, according to the government of UAE
Who’d have predicted?
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