Saturday, October 14, 2000
M I N D  G A M E S


Pyramids of Egypt

After travelling through a black hole, all that is left of Mr Cole is his soul. His soul meets that of a Pharoh who listens to his tale and turns rather pale. "You must be missing the black hole, as much as I miss the Pyramids kind soul," says the Pharoh to Mr Cole. "Wonderous as the ones in Egypt might be, my Pyramids are more magnificant to see. Correct me if I am wrong, but we all carry one along," says Mr Cole. "A Pyramid! impossible, of what kind?" says the Pharoh. "Of numbers in our mind." Mr Cole says. "Simpler and more majestic than the Pyramid dedicated to you, I present here two."

12=1

22=(1+1)2=1+2+1

32=(1+1+1)2=1+2+3+2+1

42=(1+1+1+1)2=1+2+3+4+3+2+1

52=(1+1+1+1+1)2=1+2+3+4+5+4+3+2+1

12=1

112=121

1112=12321

11112=1234321

111112=123454321

 

The Pharoh laughs and says, "These are so small." Mr Cole smiles and says, "Not at all." "The base will expand as long as I demand; the sequences continue till infinity and are rather grand."

"Here’s a constant pattern, that depends on 1/7 as I show you; if this is not tall enough, should I continue?"

1 x 7 + 3 = 10

14 x 7 + 2 = 100

142 x 7 + 6 = 1000

1428 x 7 + 4 = 10000

14285 x 7 + 5 = 100000

142857 x 7 + 1 = 1000000

1428571 x 7 + 3 = 10000000

14285714 x 7 + 2 = 100000000

142857142 x 7 + 6 = 1000000000

1428571428 x 7 + 4 = 10000000000

"Mejestic sequences Mr Cole. Sequences are aesthetic and you are wise, Pyramids of Egypt are not quite the size."

Mr Cole says, "The primes 3, 5 and 7 form an arithmetic sequence, too, where there is a constant difference of 2 (between one prime and the next). However, the next term of the sequence is 9 which is not a prime. The Primes in an arithmetic sequence here are only three, but there is more to see. The primes 5, 11, 17, 23 and 29 form an arithmetic sequence with a constant difference of 6. With two primes more, the sequence is longer than the one before."

"If you want the record such sequence found in my time, begin with the prime 100 99697 24697 14247 63778 66555 87969 84032 95093 24689 19004 18036 03417 75890 43417 03348 88215 90672 29719 and use a constant difference of 210. Manfred Toplic, my mate, discovered this arithmetic sequence of ten primes on March 2, 1998."

The Pharoh says, "I hated mathematics in school. Addition was easy, but multiplication wasn’t cool."

Mr Cole says, "Sometimes, it makes no difference merey bhai, whether you add or multiply."

2x2=2+2 and 0x0=0+0.

However, the following are not be so familiar:

1 1/2 x 3 = 1 1/2 + 3 = 4 1/2

1 1/3 x 4 = 1 1/3 + 4 = 5 1/3

1 1/4 x 5 = 1 1/4 + 5 = 6 1/4

Sometimes, whether you multiply or subtract also makes no difference.

1 x 1/2 = 1 - 1/2 = 1/2

2 x 2/3 = 2 - 2/3 = 1 1/3

3 x 3/4 = 3 - 3/4 = 2 1/4

"Since Zero belongs to Indians, I take only 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and show you more things that are fine."

12 x 483 = 5796

27 x 198 = 5346

42 x 138 = 5796

39 x 186 = 7254

18 x 297 = 5346

48 x 159 = 7632

28 x 157 = 4396

4 x 1738 = 6952

4 x 1963 = 7852

"Observe that the sums include all 9 digits, but never repeat one. These are not the only ones you can find, because there are more of the kind."

"The digits occasionally leave out one that has a fight, but it multiplies itself with the rest to set things right."

3 x 51249876 = 153749628

9 x 16583742 = 195287346

6 x 32547891 = 195287346

After this, the Pharoh never argued in vain or mentioned Pyramids again.

— Aditya Rishi