Numbers

This prompt is an exciting post for me.

During my training programs, I used to take a short break and play a fascinating game. It was a refreshing way to break the monotony and stimulate the mind.

Think of a three-digit number (excluding mirror numbers).

Let’s say 658.

Reverse it – 856.

Subtract the lesser number than the higher one.

856 – 658 = 198

Reverse it again and add the two numbers.

198 + 891 = 1089

The final answer is always 1089 for any set of numbers.

I guessed that it had something to do with

1100-11=1089

Jim confirms that by multiplying two nine-digit numbers to get a palindrome.

Multiplying these two nine-digit numbers 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 gives you the 17-digit answer of 12,345,678,987,654,321, a numeric palindrome. This is seemingly strange, but also very predictable because when we multiply 11 x 11, we get 121, and when we multiply 111 x 111, we get 12321.

Jim has just given me ideas on developing new games or Fun Facts for training sessions.

I just finished reading the novel Spontaneous Acts by Yoko Tawada, a Japanese author. The main character is referred to as ‘the patient’, who suffers from a kind of mental illness. He hallucinates about meeting his favourite authors or philosophers and cannot see the world beyond their theories.

He develops a strange habit of allocating numbers to body parts—like 4 for neck or hand, 3 for arm or leg—and wearing those numbers in his imagination. If the spelling of a body part has more than 4 alphabets, he hallucinates about being exposed because number tags cannot adequately cover it.

It’s intriguing, but the author’s work is highly acclaimed. The way she weaves numbers and words into the narrative is genuinely fascinating.

In school, I had fun reversing the alphabet in words to see how they sounded.

Like Alaska was read as Aksala and so on…

I often wonder if, if I had explored numbers similarly, I could have become a mathematical genius.

Friday Faithfuls – Number Patterns