Friday, 21 August 2026

Surface Area of a Regular Dodecadhedron


One of the properties of the number associated with my diurnal age today is that it represents the surface area (rounded to the nearest whole number) of a dodecahedron with an edge of 37 units. The formula and result is shown below where \(n\) represents edge length:$$ \begin{align} \text{Surface Area } &= 3 \times n^2 \times \sqrt{{25} + 10 \times \sqrt{5}} \\ &= 3 \times 37^2 \times \sqrt{25 + 10 \times \sqrt{5}} \text{ when }n=37\\ \\&= 28264.0027368755 \dots \\ \\ &\approx 28264 \end{align}$$What's special about the dodecahedron with an edge of 37 units is how close its exact surface area approaches a whole number. The table below shows the results for edges from 1 to 44:

Edge   With Decimal   Rounded

  1      20.645729      21
  2      82.582915      83
  3      185.81156      186
  4      330.33166      330
  5      516.14322      516
  6      743.24624      743
  7      1011.6407      1012
  8      1321.3266      1321
  9      1672.3040      1672
  10     2064.5729      2065
  11     2498.1332      2498
  12     2972.9849      2973
  13     3489.1282      3489
  14     4046.5628      4047
  15     4645.2890      4645
  16     5285.3066      5285
  17     5966.6156      5967
  18     6689.2161      6689
  19     7453.1081      7453
  20     8258.2915      8258
  21     9104.7664      9105
  22     9992.5327      9993
  23     10921.591      10922
  24     11891.940      11892
  25     12903.581      12904
  26     13956.513      13957
  27     15050.736      15051
  28     16186.251      16186
  29     17363.058      17363
  30     18581.156      18581
  31     19840.545      19841
  32     21141.226      21141
  33     22483.199      22483
  34     23866.462      23866
  35     25291.018      25291
  36     26756.865      26757
  37     28264.003      28264
  38     29812.432      29812
  39     31402.154      31402
  40     33033.166      33033
  41     34705.470      34705
  42     36419.066      36419
  43     38173.953      38174
  44     39970.131      39970

Clearly the dodecahedron with edge of 37 units is a clear winner as it has a surface area that differs by only about 0.003 from its surface area when rounded to the nearest whole number.

Thursday, 20 August 2026

PRIME + and NON-PRIME - Improved Format

As with the EVEN + and ODD - and EVEN - and ODD + recursive algorithms, I've taken the original 393 page data document and converted it to a 83 page PDF that is more reader friendly. Here some excerpts.


Figure 1


Figure 2


Figure 3



Table 1


Table 2


Table 3


Table 4

Wednesday, 19 August 2026

Temperature Conversion

I came across this interesting snippet of information today:


I was interested in why this interchange should be possible and so I asked Gemini. Here was its response:

The trick works because the conversion slope between Celsius and Fahrenheit:$$\frac{9}{5} = 1.8$$closely mirrors how reversing a two-digit number changes its numerical value in base-10 arithmetic, combined with simple integer rounding.


The Exact Arithmetic

The standard conversion formula from Celsius ($C$) to Fahrenheit ($F$) is:

$$F = \frac{9}{5}C + 32 = 1.8C + 32$$

Every time $C$ increases by 12°C, $F$ increases by:

$$\Delta F = 1.8 \times 12 = 21.6$$

which is approximately 22°F.

Evaluating each step from the image reveals how closely the exact arithmetic matches the digit reversal:

  • 04°C: $1.8(4) + 32 = 7.2 + 32 = 39.2$ → 39.2°F40°F 
    (reversed digits: 04 → 40)
  • 16°C: $1.8(16) + 32 = 28.8 + 32 = 60.8$ → 60.8°F61°F
    (reversed digits: 16 → 61)
  • 28°C: $1.8(28) + 32 = 50.4 + 32 = 82.4$ → 82.4°F82°F
    (reversed digits: 28 → 82)
  • 40°C: $1.8(40) + 32 = 72.0 + 32 = 104.0$ → 104°F
    (reversed digits: 40 → 04, plus a leading 1)
  • 52°C: $1.8(52) + 32 = 93.6 + 32 = 125.6$ → 125.6°F126°F125°F
    (reversed digits: 52 → 25, plus a leading 1)

Why Digits Invert in Steps of 12

Let a two-digit Celsius value be represented by digits $a$ and $b$:

$$C = 10a + b$$

Its digit reversal $R(C)$ is:

$$R(C) = 10b + a$$

If you add $12$ to $C$, the tens digit increases by $1$ and the units digit increases by $2$ (assuming no carryover):

$$C' = 10(a+1) + (b+2)$$

The reversal of this new value is:

$$R(C') = 10(b+2) + (a+1) = (10b + a) + 21 = R(C) + 21$$

Because reversing digits after adding $12$ increases the reversed value by $21$, and the physical temperature conversion rate is $1.8 \times 12 = 21.6$, the rounded whole-number sequences track together with remarkable accuracy across the everyday range from 0°C to 50°C.

Super Sphenic Numbers

The number associated with my diurnal age today (28262) is what might be termed a "super sphenic number" as I'll explain in this post. Firstly however, its factorisation:$$28262=2 \times 13 \times 1087$$If we reverse its digits, we get the number 26282 and this number is also sphenic:$$26282 = 2 \times 17 \times 773$$Let's now concatenate the factors of 28262 in ascending order. This gives us the number 2131087 which is also sphenic:$$2131087 = 7 \times 167 \times 1823$$28262 has a sum of digits of 20 and if we add this to the original number we get the palindromic number 28282 which is also sphenic:$$28262+20=28282 = 2 \times 79 \times 179$$The number has a product of digits of 384I and if we subtract this from the original number we get 27878 which is sphenic:$$28262 - 384 = 27878 = 2 \times 53 \times 263$$If we consider only the internal digits of 28262, we get the number 826 which is also sphenic:$$2\, 826 \, 2 \rightarrow826=2 \times 7 \times 59$$When a sphenic number is considered as a sphenic brick then it has an associated number in the form of the brick's surface area. In the case of 28262, this associated surface area is 32662 square units and this number too is sphenic:$$32662 = 2 \times 7 \times 2333$$28262 has a sum of proper divisors that is also sphenic:$$ \sigma(28262) - 28262 =17434 = 2 \times 23 \times 379 $$The number has a sum of prime factors (1102) that is sphenic:$$2 +13+1087=1102 = 2 \times 19 \times 29$$28262 has a totient of 13032 which is not sphenic but its cototient (number - totient) of 15230 is:$$28262 - 13032 = 15230 = 2 \times 5 \times 1523$$So we can see that 28262 may well be termed a super sphenic number because of the above associations.

Tuesday, 18 August 2026

ODD - and EVEN + Improved Format

Some time ago I got Gemini to create a 197 page document that identifies attractors and vortices arising from the recursive ODD - and EVEN + algorithm. It also lists their number of captives. Today I got Gemini to summarise and reformat this information so that it is more readable using the exact same template it created for my August 15th post titled ODD + and EVEN - Improved Format. That 142 page document can be located here. Here are some excerpts:


Figure 1


Figure 2


Table 1


Table 2


Table 3

Table 4

Notice that while 8987 has the record number of captives under the ODD - and EVEN + recursive algorithm (in the range up to 40000), it has ZERO captives under the ODD + and EVEN - recursive algorithm. Conversely, while 38013 is a vortical in the mighty vortex {38013, 38012, 38006, 37995, 38028} with 564 captives under the ODD + and EVEN - recursive algorithm, it is a mere captive of the attractor 38050 under the ODD - and EVEN + recursive algorithm.

Monday, 17 August 2026

28260: An Interesting Number

Sometimes it's difficult to find many interesting properties for numbers greater than 28000. However, 28260 is definitely not one of those sorts of numbers. It has a plethora of interesting properties and in this post I'll list some of them. Firstly though, let's list its prime factorisation:$$ \textbf{28260} = 2^2 \times 3^2 \times 5 \times 157$$PROPERTY 1: sum of two squares

As can be seen, the number is a product of a power of 2 (\( 2^2\)), a 4\(k\)+1 prime raised to an even power (\(3^2\)) and two 4\(k\)+1 primes (5 and 157). This means that it can be expressed as a sum of two squares in two different ways, viz.:$$ \begin{align} \textbf{28260} &= 6^2+168^2\\ \textbf{28260} &= 96^2+138^2 \end{align} $$PROPERTY 2: a, b, c, d number

It is what I've termed an \(a, b, c, d\) number because its digits can be rearranged to form three different numbers with the property that \(a+b+c=d\) where all four numbers share identical digits. In this case, there are two possible arrangements:$$ \begin{align} 26082 + 26280 + \textbf{28260} &= 80622\\ 26280 + 28062 + \textbf{28260} &= 82602 \end{align} $$PROPERTY 3: d-powerful number

It is digitally powerful (or \(d\)-powerful) because it can be expressed as a sum of positive powers of its digits. Here we have:$$ \textbf{28260} = 2^{14} + 8^4 + 2^2 + 6^5 + 0$$Of additional interest is that this number is the beginning of chain of ten consecutive numbers with this property. See Figure 1.


Figure 1


PROPERTY 4: Ulam number

It is an Ulam number. The Ulam sequence is defined by \(U_1=1\), \(U_2=2\)  and, for \(k>2\), \(U_k\) is the smallest integer that can be written in exactly one way as \(U_i+U_j\) with \(i<j<k\). Here we have:$$ \textbf{28260}=3 + 28257$$PROPERTY 5: gapful number

It a gapful number defined as a number of at least 3 digits that is divisible by the number formed by its first and last digits. Here the first and last digits form the number 20 and 20 is indeed a divisor:$$ \frac{ \textbf{28260}}{20} = 1413$$PROPERTY 6: untouchable number

It is an untouchable number defined as a number \(n\) that is not the sum of the proper divisors of any number \(k\). In other words:$$ \textbf{28260} \neq \sigma(k)-k \text{ for any }k $$PROPERTY 7: inconsummate number

It is an inconsummate number defined as a number \(n\) for which there is no number $k$ such that \(k\) divided by its sum of digits (SOD) gives $n$. Thus we have:$$ \frac{k}{\text{SOD}(k)}\neq \textbf{28260} \text{ for any } k$$PROPERTY 8: tau number

is a tau number since it is divisible by its number of divisors. Here there are 36 divisors and we have:$$ \frac{\textbf{28260}}{36}=785$$PROPERTY 9: Harshad number

It is a Harshad number defined as number that is divisible by the sum of its digits. Here we have a sum of digits of 18 and:$$ \frac{\textbf{28260}}{18}=1570$$PROPERTY 10: zeroes of the Mertens function

It is a number where the Mertens function has a value of zero. It forms a pair of consecutive numbers with 28259.

I examined the Möbius and Mertens functions in a post titled The Möbius Function and Mertens Function on January 25th 2020. In number theory, we define the Mertens function as:$$M(n) = \sum_{1\le k \le n} \mu(k)$$where \( \mu (k)\) is the Möbius function. For any positive integer n, \(μ(n)\) has values in {−1, 0, 1} depending on the factorisation of \(n\) into prime factors:$$\mu(n) = \begin{cases} 1 & \quad \text{if } n \text{ is square-free + integer with even number of prime factors}\\ -1 & \quad \text{if } n \text{ is square-free + integer with odd number of prime factors}\\ 0 & \quad \text{if } n \text{ has a squared prime factor} \end{cases}$$Figure 2 shows the situation:

Figure 2

There are many other properties that the number has but this covers most of the more interesting.

Saturday, 15 August 2026

ODD + and EVEN - Improved Format

Some time ago I got Gemini to carry out an analysis for me of attractors and vortices in the range up to 40000 under the ODD + and EVEN - algorithm. I copied the output into a Google document that listed: 

  • each attractor and how many captives it had
  • each vortex (along with the vorticals that comprised it)
  • the number of captives the vortex had
Here is the information the 193 page document displays for the attractor 39642:
  • Attractor: 39642
  • Captive Count: 395
  • Captives: [38997, 39017, 39035, 39037, 39039, 39053, 39055, 39059, 39063, 39065, 39070, 39071, 39072, 39073, 39074, 39075, 39076, 39077, 39078, 39083] ... (and 375 more)
Here is the information the documents displays for the vortex [38013, 38012, 38006, 37995, 38028]:
  • Vortex (Vorticals): [38013, 38012, 38006, 37995, 38028]
  • Captive Count: 564
  • Captives: [37055, 37075, 37097, 37099, 37107, 37123, 37125, 37127, 37133, 37135, 37137, 37139, 37141, 37143, 37145, 37149, 37150, 37151, 37152, 37153] ... (and 544 more)
The attractors and vortices are arranged in descending order by number of captives. The information is readily accessible but I thought I'd use Gemini again to improve the formatting of the document to make it more readable. Figure 1 shows the opening page of the 137 page document and Figure 2 shows the second page.


Figure 1


Figure 2

The document lists the attractors in ascending order and also in descending order by number of captives (see Tables 1 and 2 for the start of each table).


Table 1


Table 2

The document goes on to list vortices in ascending order and also in descending order by number of captives (see Tables 3 and 4):


Table 3


Table 4

Overall the document provides an excellent organisation of the data and I'll roll this out this the results for the ODD - and EVEN + algorithm and the PRIME + NON-PRIME - algorithm in the near future.