From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net> To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net> Subject: [WSFA] New Year's oddity Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2018 13:21:52 -0500 (EST) Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net> Lots of things will change with the new year in a couple of days. But there's one thing that won't: The power of two in which the year first appears. As we all know, 2^212 is 6582018229284824168619876730229402019930943462534319453394436096. What you may not have noticed, not being as perceptive as me (i.e. having a life) is that it contains both 2018 and 2019 as substrings. And that it's the *first* power of two to contain *either* of those numbers as substrings. When, if ever, is the last time this happened? When, if ever, will be the next time? For extra credit, what, if any, is the first power of two to *start* with 2018, and what, if any, is the first to start with 2019?