![]() ![]() ![]() Plouffe addresses the problem by offering a "smart lookup" in addition to the "simple lookup" that you can start with. The hazard is greatest when only a small number of digits is used and when the number is truncated or rounded off. Thus, it can get very tricky to sift the "true" formula from a coincidental expression extracted from the ISC database. But, given the result 4, there are actually lots of different ways to get there besides "2 + 2". Given a formula or expression such as "2 + 2", there's only one answer, 4. This vast compendium makes it possible to identify all kinds of "special" numbers. Plouffe now has more than 48 million entries in 380 tables in the ISC database, representing mathematical constants that arise from a variety of formulas and expressions. The work is largely that of Simon Plouffe, with help from a variety of collaborators, including the brothers Peter and Jonathan Borwein. ![]() The Inverse Symbolic Calculator (ISC) is an ongoing project of the Center for Experimental and Constructive Mathematics at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. The most intriguing possibility is the expression (1 + sqrt(5))/2, which represents the golden ratio of Greek architecture and design. In this case, the database search produces a page of formulas and functions that could generate 1.6180339887 (rounded off). You enter the number in the blank space provided, click on "run," and await the answer. You can find it on the World Wide Web at. Otherwise, you could consult the Inverse Symbolic Calculator, which is somewhat like a spell checker for numbers. How can you find out whether this particular number is special in some way, perhaps as the output of a specific formula or the value of a familiar mathematical function? If you have the kind of phenomenal insight and prodigious memory that mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) had at his disposal to work out such problems, you might be able to figure it out on your own. It looks vaguely familiar, but you can't quite place it. Ml NovemIvars Peterson's MathLand Mardi 23 septembre 1997 Ivars Peterson's MathLand From Number to Formula You happen upon the number 1.6180339887. ![]()
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