To evaluate \( 2^4 \cdot 12^2 \), we can start by calculating each term separately.
First, calculate \( 2^4 \):
\[ 2^4 = 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2 = 16 \]
Next, calculate \( 12^2 \):
\[ 12^2 = 12 \times 12 = 144 \]
Now we multiply the two results together:
\[ 2^4 \cdot 12^2 = 16 \cdot 144 \]
To calculate this, we can break it down:
\[ 16 \cdot 144 = 16 \cdot (100 + 40 + 4) = 16 \cdot 100 + 16 \cdot 40 + 16 \cdot 4 \]
Calculating each part:
\[ 16 \cdot 100 = 1600 \] \[ 16 \cdot 40 = 640 \] \[ 16 \cdot 4 = 64 \]
Now, we add these results together:
\[ 1600 + 640 + 64 = 2304 \]
Thus, the final result is:
\[ \boxed{2304} \]