Palindromic Numbers

Today is a palindrome.

Look at today’s date: 31 1 13

Its the same forward as it is backwards.

There’s quite a nice little investigation you can do with numbers:

Take any 3 digit number – say 567. Reverse the digits -> 765 and add them together.  Is the answer “interesting”? (In this case “interesting” means palindromic – the same forward as it is backwards.)

567 + 765

 

If not, take the answer, reverse the digits, add the two numbers together, and see what happens.

 

1332 + 2331

Will it work for all 3 digit numbers? What about 2 digit or 4 digit numbers?

At one level, this is a great little investigation to practise addition, but it can prompt so many other questions like those above, and more, like when is the next palindromic date? How many can we look forward to this year? What about next year? As ever, we seem to end up asking more questions than we answer, but isn’t that what makes maths so much fun?

Enjoy the day and have a play with some palindromic dates and numbers.

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  • By Another Palindromic Date on 31/03/2013 at 12:55 am

    […] in palindromic numbers? Then you might be interested in this investigation into palindromic numbers This entry was posted in dates and tagged Palindrome, palindromic number. Bookmark the permalink. […]

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