What will you be doing at 3 minutes, 4 seconds after 2 a.m. this Sunday? Well, get up! At that moment, it will be 02:03:04 on 05/06/07, and for some folks, it’s a chance to … to argue on Internet chatrooms about the frequency of such time/date patterns; whether they’re worth noting; and why Americans fail to consider other cultures’ calendars.
Another point to argue, notes Northwestern University mathematics and statistics professor Sandy Zabell, is where did the 01 go? “I do find the 02 a little arbitrary,” he says, not to mention that the sequence starts with the hour rather than seconds.
Instead of Sunday, Zabell says, let’s jump to Nov. 7, 2013, at 3 minutes, 2 seconds after 5. “That’s 02 03 05 on 7-11-13. That’s interesting because they’re all prime numbers. That would give a rationale for starting with 02 because 1 is not a prime number.”
Mathematicians might get very excited then, Zabell jokes, because in this millennium, “it’s the first and only time you’d have the first six prime numbers in order.” Gee, and to think we’ve been all worked up over 07/07/07.
