Comments on: Number Theory

By: mapstew

mapstew — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:18:46 +0000

710 77345 (royalties)

By: Conan Drumm

Conan Drumm — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:28:03 +0000

“Is that some sort of synaesthesia?”
Probably not as pronounced as that.

By: Bock

Bock — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:28:31 +0000

335 1

By: mapstew

mapstew — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:53:09 +0000

ahem… the Hollies, a band, from the sixties and on, had, in the eighties, if one is not mistaken, an album called, wait for it, 5317704. Yeah you need a seventies calculator to get it. (sorry, just in from the watering hole and this is about as numerical as I get this time of an eve’).

By: EssoDee

EssoDee — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:48:19 +0000

Bock - totally tangential post here, but you have reminded me of a book which I think you might enjoy. Its called Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. Stephenson is a bit of a genius who manages to write novels involving history, science, maths, and various other fileds - you name it really, and make them fascinating. Cryptonomicon involves a mathematical genius who is recruited to in the enigma project cracking Nazi codes, ends up on wild and wonderful adventures. Sorry, I’m no reviewer, so cant describe it very well, but I think most enquiring minds, especially of a technical bent, would enjoy it.

By: Bock

Bock — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:00:29 +0000

No. A transcendental number of them.

By: ellen

ellen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:44:07 +0000

That is sooo cool bock. I LOVE numbers!!! never heard of that one.

I’ve a 16 year old too. Now there’s a number I could do something with only I cant say it here!!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:28:27 +0000

Just the one PInt, Bock?

By: Bock

Bock — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:48:10 +0000

It wouldn’t take long to check that, except I’m going for a pint now. Let me know how you get on.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:43:28 +0000

I wonder if 1729 is a Keith number? Let me explain: A Keith number is an n-digit integer N>9 such that if a Fibonacci-like sequence (in which each term in the sequence is the sum of the n previous terms) is formed with the first n terms taken as the decimal digits of the number N, then N itself occurs as a term in the sequence. For example, 197 is a Keith number since it generates the sequence 1, 9, 7, 1+9+7==17, 9+7+17==33, 7+17+33==57, 17+33+57==107, 33+57+107==197, ... (Keith). Keith numbers are also called repfigit (repetitive fibonacci-like digit) numbers. There is no known general technique for finding Keith numbers except by exhaustive search. Keith numbers are much rarer than the primes, with only 84 Keith numbers with <26 digits. I presumed they were called Keith numbers after Keith Richards but no - they are named after Mike Keith. Mike Keith is a mathematician who published a paper on these numbers titled "Repfigit Numbers" in a 1987 issue of ( I kid you not) The Journal of Recreational Mathematics. There was a possibility that we could have been calling them Mike Numbers or (heaven forbid) Mick Numbers but thankfully not!