18) What is the second digit, from left to right, of the number $\left(10^{4}+1\right)\left(10^{2}+1\right)(10+1)$? (A) 0, (B) 1, (C) 2, (D) 3, (E) 4.
18. The answer is $\mathbf{( B )}$.

If we expand the given product, we obtain

$$
\left(10^{4}+1\right)\left(10^{2}+1\right)(10+1)=10^{7}+10^{6}+10^{5}+10^{4}+10^{3}+10^{2}+10+1,
$$

a number with 7 digits, all equal to 1.

[Proposed by F. Poloni.]