Sunday Times Teaser 2810 – Almost a Year Apart
by Richard England
Published: 31 July 2016 (link)
Tomorrow’s date is 1st August 2016, which in the usual six-digit format is 01 08 16. This can be regarded as a ‘square’ date since 10816 is a perfect square. No square date is followed by another square date exactly one year later, although some pairs of square dates are very nearly one year apart.
Which two square dates (in their six-digit format) come closest to being a year apart?
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Here’s my solution.
The next closest dates are:
26.01.00 – 01.02.01 = 372 days
24.01.00 – 01.02.01 = 374 days
Richard England likes puzzles involving square dates. See also:
Enigma 1547 – https://enigmaticcode.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/enigma-1547-square-dates/
Enigma 1574 – https://enigmaticcode.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/enigma-1574-doubly-square-dates/
Enigma 1668 – https://enigmaticcode.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/enigma-1668-square-dates/
Enigma 1771 – https://enigmaticcode.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/enigma-1771-squares-either-way/
And here’s a faster solution that considers possible squares to see if they can be read as dates, rather than considering possible dates and seeing if they can be read as squares: