Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-07-17
(To be Continued.)
MBER SEVEN
Many Mathematician Confer Sanctity
Upon the Numeral.


Many Mathematicians Confer Sanctlty
Upon the Numeral.
When the number was made in
to a sacred" number, its sanctity was
conferred upon it by the mathema-
ticians of the various nationalities. 1t
Is the queerest number of the entire
number family. Its popularity, how
ever, does not show until you make 1t
into a decimal.
For the average reader who can
not do anything with figures" let it
be said that to turn a number into a
decimal, you write it as a fraction
with l as the top figure and then di-
vide the top by the bottom. Thus,
if l write 1-2, the fraction really
means that l want to divide the top
l by the bottom two.
l then write out the upper l and
add as many ciphers as l need ana
then divide. In this case, when di-
vide 10 by 2, the 10 being the original
l with one cipher added, l get B.
If do the same with a 4, I get 20.
If with 8, l get 1875.
The mathematician would say that
the result in the first case is single
digit because the figure is single
digit. He would add that the second
result is in two figures, because the
the same reason the third result Is in
three digits because the number
stands for used in a factor three
times.
Now, when 1 try in this way 1 get
an endless series of threes. Try It.
Divide into 10 with any number Of
ciphers added you choose to add and
your result will be an endless string
of threes. Six similarly produces an
endless series of skies, after first set
ting out l. But when you come to
in this sort of work, you strike one
of the funniest things you ever saw.
1t is really worth while stopping a
moment and getting pencil and paper
and working it out. Here is what you
get: When first you divide 10 with
any number of ciphers added by q,
you get the series Of figures 142S5I
Then it returns to l again and gives
you the same figures over again as
often as you please.
This in itself is odd, that the Z
should stop dividing at the sixth
place and start all over again on the
seventh. But now take your result
and multiply it by 2. The answer
will be 2S5714. Compare this with
your first result and you will see that
the digits are the same, but they are
shifted around, so as to place the IA
at the end.
Now multiply by 3 and you have
42S571. Look at the result again and
you will find you have the same digits
but the order is changed again. Just
about now you warm up to the work
and as you multiply by four you get
57l42S. You rather expected to get
that.
Then when you tried the next num-
ber, 5, you could almost foretell that
you would have 7142S5. And now
you could almost write out the result
of 6 without doing the work, for you
know you would have S57147. But
remember that you are at the sixth
step and that the number I refuses
to accompany you any further.
1t mods goodbye in this way: Null
tiply your original 142S57 by Z and
you have 999999. That seems to be
the end of the story.
But the ancient Hindoos, who were
quite expert in this sort of thing were
not satisfied. They saw, Of course,
what our readers have also seen, viz,
that the figures obtained by making
I into a decimal stood in rather an
odd relation to each other.
Take them again, 142S57. Write
them in twos apart, thus. IA, 2S, 81,
and you will note, as they also noted,
lndl the 20 10 l"lSe II 1ihu 'h"s -
comes quite near being Sc, which
would be twice %. When they had
gone this far they simply said:
That last is a g." and let it go
at that.
But Of course, the American mind
does not care to juggle figures like
that anywhere outside the returns of
elections, and, therefore, with large
show of morality, refuses to quietly
turn I into Il 6. But the ancient
Hindoo would have smiled tOlerantly
at such objection and said:
"Well multiply by the next number
of I and see what you get"
And your answer is 1142S56. The
Hindoo would have pointed to final
and the additional l in front, and
would have quietly told you:
THE final in the first case was
not :. 1t was n plus L.
Then he would have gone back to
sit under the bo tree some more. He
stops there. The American mind Is
not quite satisfied. 1t thinks: Might
as well finish the set up to g." 1t does
so and gets this result, 12S5713. The
2S is there; the 81 reappears and the
IA is broken up in the same way as
was the 81 in the other instance. And
as he makes this final result, he
glances over at the bO tree and goes
out to lunch with business friend to
sell him something he wants.-Cinci-
natl Star.