Smith number

Summary

In number theory, a Smith number is a composite number for which, in a given number base, the sum of its digits is equal to the sum of the digits in its prime factorization in the same base. In the case of numbers that are not square-free, the factorization is written without exponents, writing the repeated factor as many times as needed.

Smith number
Named afterHarold Smith (brother-in-law of Albert Wilansky)
Author of publicationAlbert Wilansky
Total no. of termsinfinity
First terms4, 22, 27, 58, 85, 94, 121
OEIS indexA006753

Smith numbers were named by Albert Wilansky of Lehigh University, as he noticed the property in the phone number (493-7775) of his brother-in-law Harold Smith:

4937775 = 3 · 5 · 5 · 65837

while

4 + 9 + 3 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 5 = 3 + 5 + 5 + (6 + 5 + 8 + 3 + 7)

in base 10.[1]

Mathematical definition edit

Let   be a natural number. For base  , let the function   be the digit sum of   in base  . A natural number   with prime factorisation

 
is a Smith number if
 
Here the exponent   is the multiplicity of   as a prime factor of   (also known as the p-adic valuation of  ).

For example, in base 10, 378 = 21 · 33 · 71 is a Smith number since 3 + 7 + 8 = 2 · 1 + 3 · 3 + 7 · 1, and 22 = 21 · 111 is a Smith number, because 2 + 2 = 2 · 1 + (1 + 1) · 1.

The first few Smith numbers in base 10 are

4, 22, 27, 58, 85, 94, 121, 166, 202, 265, 274, 319, 346, 355, 378, 382, 391, 438, 454, 483, 517, 526, 535, 562, 576, 588, 627, 634, 636, 645, 648, 654, 663, 666, 690, 706, 728, 729, 762, 778, 825, 852, 861, 895, 913, 915, 922, 958, 985. (sequence A006753 in the OEIS)

Properties edit

W.L. McDaniel in 1987 proved that there are infinitely many Smith numbers.[1][2] The number of Smith numbers in base 10 below 10n for n = 1, 2, ... is given by

1, 6, 49, 376, 3294, 29928, 278411, 2632758, 25154060, 241882509, ... (sequence A104170 in the OEIS).

Two consecutive Smith numbers (for example, 728 and 729, or 2964 and 2965) are called Smith brothers.[3] It is not known how many Smith brothers there are. The starting elements of the smallest Smith n-tuple (meaning n consecutive Smith numbers) in base 10 for n = 1, 2, ... are[4]

4, 728, 73615, 4463535, 15966114, 2050918644, 164736913905, ... (sequence A059754 in the OEIS).

Smith numbers can be constructed from factored repunits.[5][verification needed] As of 2010, the largest known Smith number in base 10 is

9 × R1031 × (104594 + 3×102297 + 1)1476 ×103913210

where R1031 is the base 10 repunit (101031 − 1)/9.[citation needed][needs update]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b Sándor & Crstici (2004) p.383
  2. ^ McDaniel, Wayne (1987). "The existence of infinitely many k-Smith numbers". Fibonacci Quarterly. 25 (1): 76–80. Zbl 0608.10012.
  3. ^ Sándor & Crstici (2004) p.384
  4. ^ Shyam Sunder Gupta. "Fascinating Smith Numbers".
  5. ^ Hoffman (1998), pp. 205–6

References edit

  • Gardner, Martin (1988). Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers. pp. 299–300.
  • Hoffman, Paul (1998). The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth. New York: Hyperion.
  • Sándor, Jozsef; Crstici, Borislav (2004). Handbook of number theory II. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. pp. 32–36. ISBN 1-4020-2546-7. Zbl 1079.11001.

External links edit