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Re: math theorem



Hi all-
Here's a trivial theorem. Take any 3-digit number and generate
two other numbers by permuting the digits. Let X be the sum of the three
3-digit numbers. Let Y be the sum of the 3 digits. Then X/Y=111.
Such theorems probably come from a topic with a name like
"arithmetic invariants." That's where Justin would have to look if his
discovery is of the nature of my trivial theorem. And people have been
playing with identities involving decimal numbers for at least 1000 years.
In other words, it's pretty difficult to come up with something new in
conventional mathematics.
Some time ago a teacher in Pennsylvania (as I recall) wrote a
short note about a "new" geometrical construction that a couple of his
students had found by playing around with something or other, maybe a computer
program. Trouble was, I found the identical construction in Britannica.
What my colleagues and I do, when we think that we have found
something new, is to share it with our peers in hope of eliciting
comments. See, e.g., any paper in the Cornell ArXives. Then, after a
suitable waiting period, we submit to a refereed journal in hopes that the
referee will alert us to any related work that we have not cited.
Regards,
Jack


On Thu, 6 Jun 2002, Justin Parke wrote:

This may be off topic and if so I apologize.

A couple of years ago I was playing around with my calculator and noticed an interesting relationship between certain types of numbers (which can be formed by simply reversing the first and last digits of any number with number of digits >= 2).

I suspected the relationship was always true and set out to prove it, which I did. I suspect someone (indeed, many) before me have noticed the same thing and proven it as well, but I have never seen a proof. My students tell me to "get it published," which I think would be pretty neat too. How do I try to do that? Should I try, or am I being silly?

Thanks

Justin


--
"But as much as I love and respect you, I will beat you and I will kill
you, because that is what I must do. Tonight it is only you and me, fish.
It is your strength against my intelligence. It is a veritable potpourri
of metaphor, every nuance of which is fraught with meaning."
Greg Nagan from "The Old Man and the Sea" in
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