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Enigma 1737 - Base jumping

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Chappy

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Apr 4, 2013, 1:18:48 AM4/4/13
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Enigma 1737 - Base jumping
New Scientist magazine, 23 February 2013.
By Peter Chamberlain.

In the country of Expluswye people do arithmetic
using a smaller base than our decimal system,
which uses base 10. My friend Basil recently
moved house in Expluswye and, when he sent me
his new address, commented that his new 3-digit
house number was a perfect square. To my eyes
Basil's house number is a prime, but when I
converted the number to decimal I saw that
Basil was right and that the number is indeed
a perfect square. This square written as a
decimal is a 3-digit number that shares no
digits with the house number as Basil writes it.

What is the number on Basil's new house?

Ciao,
Chappy.

Dave Baker

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Apr 4, 2013, 5:30:21 AM4/4/13
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"Chappy" <petergreg...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:37360303-4080-4bde...@googlegroups.com...
Maybe there's a clever way of doing this but it's a simple task using a
spreadsheet. Listing the 3 digit primes and converting them to decimal from
different starting bases the only one that results in a 3 digit perfect
square with no shared digits is the house number 647 in base 9 which
converts to 529 in decimal.
--
Dave Baker

Mark Brader

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Apr 4, 2013, 6:50:20 AM4/4/13
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Dave Baker:
> ...the only one that results in a 3 digit perfect square with no
> shared digits is the house number 647 in base 9 which converts
> to 529 in decimal.

And not only that, 647 was the first telephone area code overlaid
on area 416, and 416 is 4 concatenated with 4^2, while 647 is 4^3
concatenated with 4^3/2 - 1, and 529 is one place off in one digit
from my previous area code before I moved to 416!

(Help... I'm turning into Don McDonald...)
--
Mark Brader | "Which humans of that time did here whether this place
Toronto | was cult place already at that time, extracts itself
m...@vex.net | from our knowledge." --from a web site for tourists

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Ted Schuerzinger

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Apr 4, 2013, 7:26:13 AM4/4/13
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On Thu, 4 Apr 2013 10:30:21 +0100, Dave Baker wrote:

> Maybe there's a clever way of doing this but it's a simple task using
> a spreadsheet. Listing the 3 digit primes and converting them to
> decimal from different starting bases the only one that results in a
> 3 digit perfect square with no shared digits is the house number 647
> in base 9 which converts to 529 in decimal.

I figured the simpler task would be to take the perfect squares and
convert *them* to the other bases, since there are fewer of those (17,
to be precise). I couldn't be bothered to do this when I saw somebody
had already responded.

--
Ted S.
fedya at hughes dot net
Now blogging at http://justacineast.blogspot.com

Dave Baker

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Apr 4, 2013, 9:40:00 AM4/4/13
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"Ted Schuerzinger" <fe...@hughes.spam> wrote in message
news:3in445sl...@justacineast.motzarella.org...
> On Thu, 4 Apr 2013 10:30:21 +0100, Dave Baker wrote:
>
>> Maybe there's a clever way of doing this but it's a simple task using
>> a spreadsheet. Listing the 3 digit primes and converting them to
>> decimal from different starting bases the only one that results in a
>> 3 digit perfect square with no shared digits is the house number 647
>> in base 9 which converts to 529 in decimal.
>
> I figured the simpler task would be to take the perfect squares and
> convert *them* to the other bases, since there are fewer of those (17,
> to be precise). I couldn't be bothered to do this when I saw somebody
> had already responded.

It's much easier to write the equations to convert a number from a lower
base to a higher than vice versa unless you have a function already built in
to your spreadsheet which my old DOS thing doesn't. I never got the hang of
Excel. High to low involves division, remainders, more division, more
remainders etc etc. Low to high is just 1st digit x Base^2 + 2nd digit x
Base + 3rd digit.
--
Dave Baker

Puppet_Sock

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Apr 4, 2013, 12:44:02 PM4/4/13
to
On Apr 4, 6:50 am, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
> Dave Baker:
>
> > ...the only one that results in a 3 digit perfect square with no
> > shared digits is the house number 647 in base 9 which converts
> > to 529 in decimal.
>
> And not only that, 647 was the first telephone area code overlaid
> on area 416, and 416 is 4 concatenated with 4^2, while 647 is 4^3
> concatenated with 4^3/2 - 1, and 529 is one place off in one digit
> from my previous area code before I moved to 416!

That would be 519, which was my area code as a kid.
Now I'm a 905-er.

> (Help... I'm turning into Don McDonald...)

Can't do a thing about that.
Socks

Ted Schuerzinger

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Apr 4, 2013, 3:50:57 PM4/4/13
to
On Thu, 4 Apr 2013 14:40:00 +0100, Dave Baker wrote:

>> I figured the simpler task would be to take the perfect squares and
>> convert *them* to the other bases, since there are fewer of those
>> (17, to be precise). I couldn't be bothered to do this when I saw
>> somebody had already responded.
>
> It's much easier to write the equations to convert a number from a
> lower base to a higher than vice versa unless you have a function
> already built in to your spreadsheet which my old DOS thing doesn't.

I would have done it by hand, not by spreadsheet.

mbuck

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Apr 8, 2013, 10:23:08 AM4/8/13
to fe...@hughes.net
On Friday, April 5, 2013 3:50:57 AM UTC+8, Ted Schuerzinger wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Apr 2013 14:40:00 +0100, Dave Baker wrote:
>
>
>
> >> I figured the simpler task would be to take the perfect squares and
>
> >> convert *them* to the other bases, since there are fewer of those
>
> >> (17, to be precise). I couldn't be bothered to do this when I saw
>
> >> somebody had already responded.
>
> >
>
> > It's much easier to write the equations to convert a number from a
>
> > lower base to a higher than vice versa unless you have a function
>
> > already built in to your spreadsheet which my old DOS thing doesn't.
>
>
>
> I would have done it by hand, not by spreadsheet.
>
>

I would have done it in the margin, but there wasn't enough room.

--riverman

Curlytop

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Apr 13, 2013, 3:17:58 PM4/13/13
to
Mark Brader set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time
continuum:

> Dave Baker:
>> ...the only one that results in a 3 digit perfect square with no
>> shared digits is the house number 647 in base 9 which converts
>> to 529 in decimal.
>
> And not only that, 647 was the first telephone area code overlaid
> on area 416, and 416 is 4 concatenated with 4^2, while 647 is 4^3
> concatenated with 4^3/2 - 1, and 529 is one place off in one digit
> from my previous area code before I moved to 416!
>
> (Help... I'm turning into Don McDonald...)

In the book of Revelation, chapter 3^2 verse 4^2, you will find the largest
finite number in the Bible.
--
ξ: ) Proud to be curly

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