Date: Sat, 07 Mar 1998 19:11:44 +0000
From: Austin Plunkett
Hi. I know you don't runa a questions-and-answers service, but I can't really find anywhere to ask this. I was wondering if you've come across or can explain the following sequence of numbers:
1 4 9 7 7 9 4 1 9
To arrive at this sequence, take the numbers one to ten. For each, square it, and reduce it to a single digit by adding the resulting digits together. So 1 squared is 1. 2 squared is 4. 3 is 9, 4 is 16, which gives 7 because 1 plus 6 is seven... and so on. For results with more than two digits, add them, and keep adding the resulting digits until you arrive at a single digit. It will always be one of the above, in the order given.
Following this, I noticed that if you take any digit from the group which gives the first 4 digits (1, 10, 19, 28, 37 etc) and multiply it by any other then reduce it to a single digit, you get the single figure at the head of that group (1, 4, 9 or 7). To explain a little better, look at the table:
1 4 9 7 | 7 9 4 1 | 9 -------------------------------------- 1 2 3 4 | 5 6 7 8 | 9 10 11 12 13 | 14 15 16 17 | 18 19 20 21 22 | 23 24 25 26 | 27 28 29 30 31 | 32 33 34 35 | 36
etc
So, in the first '1' column, multiply any of the digits by any other, reduce it to a single digit by addition, and you'll get '1'. (19 x 10 = 190, which gives 10, which gives 1). In the '4' column the same holds true, and in the 9 column, and the 7 column. After that, in the '7 9 4 1' group, this doesn't work, but it does work in the final '9' column.
I realise that this is probably a trivial artifact of a base 10 numerical system (there are 9 digits in the sequence, one less than 10, our standard base). I wondered if similar patterns have been spotted in other base systems, or if this pattern has been studied before, and if it is of any use other than simply being a curiosity.
I am not a mathematician, so go easy on me! ;)
Thank you for your time,
Austin Plunkett
Headland Multimedia
austinp@headland.co.uk
71535273