Sunday, 28 January 2018

Deficient Numbers

Sometimes it's easy to forget the basics, such as what defines a deficient number. For example, today's number 25137 has the following entry in OEISdeficient numbers n having a companion m > n such that sigma(n)/n = sigma(m)/m. The initial numbers in this sequence are shown below:
135, 3375, 1485, 2295, 2565, 3105, 3915, 4185, 4995, 5535, 5805, 6345, 25137, 7155, 7965, 8235, 9045, 9585, 9855, 10665, 11205, 12015, 13095, 13635, 13905, 14445, 14715, 43875, 15255, 16335, 17145, 17685, 18495, 18765, 57375, 20115, 20385, 21195, 64125
These numbers are listed in the order that their companions were found. All these numbers appear to have only one companion, which appear in A212609. The initial entries in this sequence are shown below with the 13th entry marked, namely 40131, because 25137 is the 13th entry in the previous set of numbers:
819, 6975, 9009, 13923, 15561, 18837, 23751, 25389, 30303, 33579, 35217, 38493, 40131, 43407, 48321, 49959, 54873, 58149, 59787, 64701, 67977, 72891, 79443, 82719, 84357, 87633, 89271, 90675, 92547, 99099, 104013, 107289, 112203, 113841, 118575, 122031
So the companion for 25137 is 40131 and checking we find that: σ(25137)25137=σ(40131)401311.81406
However, just to remind myself about the distinction between deficient, perfect and abundant numbers, I've included the following graphic:


By now the sigma function has begun to sink into my long term memory along with the Euler totient function or phi function as it's sometimes known.

Sunday, 7 January 2018

432 Hz versus 440 Hz

I've been aware for a while about the the controversy surrounding the standard A note and whether it should be set to 440Hz (as it now is) or changed to 432Hz. I'm trying in this post to look at the mathematical properties of 432.
  • 4322=186624 is close to the speed of light as measured in miles per second. Wolfram Alpha gives a figure of 186282 miles per second for the speed of light in a vacuum which is 99.82% of 4322.

  • It also turns out that the area of an equilateral triangle whose numerical area is equal to its perimeter is given by 123=432.

  • 432 sits between the twin primes 431 and 433

  • The factors of 432 are 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,12,16,18,24,27,36,48,54,72,108,144,216 and 432. The sum of these divisors is 1240.

  • 432 is a 3-smooth number, one that is of the form 2i3j where i,j>=0 or to put it less mathematically it is a number that can be written as a power of two times a power of three, specifically 24×33. Such numbers have been called harmonic numbers. Here are the harmonic numbers up to 1000:


  • 432 is the sum of four consecutive primes103+107+109+113=432

  • 432 is the sum of two positive cubes: 63+63=432

  • OEIS lists 2944 entries for the number 432