I’m unreasonably excited that my age at my birthday this year (32) is a power of 2.
I’ve been aware and idly amused by this fact for a bit, but my excitement comes from noticing recently just how rare that is.
Think about it.
The first power of 2 you experience is 1 (2^0). I know an infant who is almost one year old. He doesn’t know anything about powers of 2. He is too young to appreciate it.
The second power of 2 you experience is 2 (2^1). The aforementioned infant has a two-year-old toddler for a brother. Based on my observations, this older sibling is also too early in brain development to appreciate this pattern.
The third power of 2 in your life is 4 (2^2). This is one isn’t impossible to appreciate at the time I suppose, but it’s out of reach for all but the most comically precocious four-year-olds.
Your fourth power of 2 is 8 (2^3). It’s been so long since I thought about the elementary school math curriculum that I had to look at whether they teach this concept in those years. They do not. Evidently that’s too early to be teaching powers of 2. [1] Your very ahead-of-the-curve eight-year-olds might see it, but it has to be a rarity.
So the first power of 2 most people might meaningfully experience is age 16 (2^4). At this point it is entirely plausible to know and appreciate the milestone! You have to bit a bit of a math geek, sure, but that rules! Sadly, I confess I have no memory of caring about this at the time.
Above a certain point, there are bigger gaps between the numbers with every increase to the next power. You have to wait more than ten years for your next power of 2 birthday, the easily-overlooked 32 (2^5). That’s a big jump from 16 mathematically – probably an even bigger jump in life.
Finally, you have reasonable hope for one more, 64 (2^6). I say one more because the oldest person ever, that we know of, passed away at 122 years old. That’s six shy of 128 (2^7). Miracle anti-aging cures, potions, and technologies are in a permanent state of hype, but I humbly venture my guess that we’re not about to crack 2^7 anytime soon.
So realistically, a person who lives a common human lifespan gets three power-of-2 birthdays they might appreciate: 16, 32, and 64. I’m closing in on my second, age 32 (2^5). I intend to live that year – and, if I’m so blessed or fortunate, all the years after it – to the fullest.
Aging to a Power of Two: Because if we’re not making up arbitrary reasons to celebrate, what are we even doing here?
A quick afterword: It occurred to me while writing this that someone must have done a post like this before. Sure enough, a quick search turned up a few links. I promise I didn’t read before I drafted mine – but if you enjoyed this little musing, you might also like these:
- In 2005 there was a fun little blog post here on the same concept, which the author framed as “base-2 birthdays”. The post also highlights the marketing value to Big Greeting Card of writing the years in binary format (e.g. calling them your 1st, 10th, 100th, and 1000th birthdays instead of your 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 8th.).
- A 2020 issue of Communications of the ACM included the playful article “Birthday Bit Boundaries”, from a more computer science-oriented angle.
[1] You will note the use of “too”, “to”, and “two” in this sentence. 🙂
