The problem: We shall say that an n-digit number is pandigital if it makes use of all the digits 1 to n exactly once; for example, the 5-digit number, 15234, is 1 through 5 pandigital. The product 7254 is unusual, as the identity, 39 × 186 = 7254, containing multiplicand, multiplier, and product is 1 […]
The problem: In England the currency is made up of pound, £, and pence, p, and there are eight coins in general circulation: 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 (100p) and £2 (200p). It is possible to make £2 in the following way: 1×£1 + 1×50p + 2×20p + 1×5p + 1×2p + 3×1p […]
The problem: Surprisingly there are only three numbers that can be written as the sum of fourth powers of their digits: 1634 = 14 + 64 + 34 + 44 8208 = 84 + 24 + 04 + 84 9474 = 94 + 44 + 74 + 44 As 1 = 14 is not a […]
The problem: Consider all integer combinations of ab for 2 ≤ a ≤ 5 and 2 ≤ b ≤ 5: 22=4, 23=8, 24=16, 25=32 32=9, 33=27, 34=81, 35=243 42=16, 43=64, 44=256, 45=1024 52=25, 53=125, 54=625, 55=3125 If they are then placed in numerical order, with any repeats removed, we get the following sequence of 15 […]
The problem: Starting with the number 1 and moving to the right in a clockwise direction a 5 by 5 spiral is formed as follows: 21 22 23 24 25 20 7 8 9 10 19 6 1 2 11 18 5 4 3 12 17 16 15 14 13 It can be verified that the sum of the numbers on the diagonals is […]
The problem: Euler discovered the remarkable quadratic formula: n² + n + 41 It turns out that the formula will produce 40 primes for the consecutive values n = 0 to 39. However, when n = 40, 402 + 40 + 41 = 40(40 + 1) + 41 is divisible by 41, and certainly when […]
The problem: A unit fraction contains 1 in the numerator. The decimal representation of the unit fractions with denominators 2 to 10 are given: 1/2 = 0.5 1/3 = 0.(3) 1/4 = 0.25 1/5 = 0.2 1/6 = 0.1(6) 1/7 = 0.(142857) 1/8 = 0.125 1/9 = 0.(1) 1/10 = 0.1 Where 0.1(6) means 0.166666…, […]
The problem: The Fibonacci sequence is defined by the recurrence relation: Fn = Fn−1 + Fn−2, where F1 = 1 and F2 = 1. Hence the first 12 terms will be: F1 = 1 F2 = 1 F3 = 2 F4 = 3 F5 = 5 F6 = 8 F7 = 13 F8 = 21 […]
The problem: — A permutation is an ordered arrangement of objects. For example, 3124 is one possible permutation of the digits 1, 2, 3 and 4. If all of the permutations are listed numerically or alphabetically, we call it lexicographic order. The lexicographic permutations of 0, 1 and 2 are: 012 021 102 120 201 […]
The problem: — A perfect number is a number for which the sum of its proper divisors is exactly equal to the number. For example, the sum of the proper divisors of 28 would be 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28, which means that 28 is a perfect number. A […]