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FOR long I have been cooking it alone; now everyone wants his or her share of the pie. Saturday morning couldn’t get any juicier than this. You all have been sending me your problems and wondering if I will ever print these. It’s only now that I have the courage to say: "What’s your problem?" There has always been space for your observations, if you have observed. One week of pi was not enough for many of you. Two of you have more to say on pi. Here’s more pi in your face. Feeling good? "Except the number 27, which is 27 spaces after the decimal point of the value of pi and is surrounded by 3 and 9, a few other magic numbers and their positions are: 1. After 372 spaces, number 12 comes surrounded by 3 and 4 and after 443 spaces 12 comes surrounded by 4 and 3. 2. After 500 spaces, number 40 comes surrounded by 8 and 5. 3. After 511 spaces, number 36 comes surrounded by 9 and 4. 4. After 535 spaces, number 18 comes surrounded by 2 & 9. There were other numbers such as 3062, but I didn’t count those, since it was not coming in two-digit numbers and there were numbers like 362 and 111 and else. I found the solution in a scientific calculator inside a computer, which displays 31 digits at a time. The next 31 numbers one can see by subtracting the number which appears on the screen from pi and multiplying the result by 10 to the power of 31 and so on," says Vijayesh Narayan Singh of Panjab University. "One would be lost if he or she started finding the exact value of pi and then finding out 5 such numbers in its value which represented their positions also, since it is an irrational number and, according to the Greek mathematician, Archimedes, its value is between 3 10/70 and 3 10/71. Presently, supercomputers are used to find the value of pi with as many digits as possible and it is found that only 5 numbers in the first 50 million have this amazing property, that if we remove the first N decimal digits, the remaining numbers will start with N. These numbers are (of course, as said) 6, 27, 13598, 43611 and 24643510.
Moreover, if we draw a table of products by multiplying 142857 by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, horizontally and vertically the digits all add up to 27," says Vimal Jit Kaur. The table is laid very nicely indeed, which reminds me that I have to eat more humble pi. (From now, write at Mind Games, The Tribune, or aditya@tribunemail.com) |
"There are some more oddities with
pi and the number 27. Since the value of pi is approximately 22/7, which
equals about 3.14285714285714... If we add the digits of 142857, the sum
is 27. 