Palindromic number

A palindromic number (also known as a

numeral palindrome or a numeric
palindrome) is a number (such as 16461)
that remains the same when its digits are
reversed. In other words, it has reflectional
symmetry across a vertical axis. The term
palindromic is derived from palindrome,
which refers to a word (such as rotor or
racecar) whose spelling is unchanged
when its letters are reversed. The first 30
palindromic numbers (in decimal) are:

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55,

66, 77, 88, 99, 101, 111, 121, 131, 141,
151, 161, 171, 181, 191, 202, …
(sequence A002113 in the OEIS).

Palindromic numbers receive most

attention in the realm of recreational
mathematics. A typical problem asks for
numbers that possess a certain property
and are palindromic. For instance:

The palindromic primes are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11,

101, 131, 151, … (sequence A002385 in
the OEIS).
 The palindromic square numbers are 0,
1, 4, 9, 121, 484, 676, 10201, 12321, …
(sequence A002779 in the OEIS).

It is obvious that in any base there are

infinitely many palindromic numbers, since
in any base the infinite sequence of
numbers written (in that base) as 101,
1001, 10001, 100001, etc. consists solely
of palindromic numbers.

Formal definition
Although palindromic numbers are most
often considered in the decimal system,
the concept of palindromicity can be
applied to the natural numbers in any
numeral system. Consider a number n > 0
in base b ≥ 2, where it is written in standard
notation with k+1 digits ai as:

with, as usual, 0 ≤ ai < b for all i and ak ≠ 0.

Then n is palindromic if and only if ai = ak−i
for all i. Zero is written 0 in any base and is
also palindromic by definition.

Decimal palindromic
numbers
All numbers in base 10 (and indeed in any
base) with one digit are palindromic, so
there are ten decimal palindromic numbers
with one digit:

{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}.

There are 9 palindromic numbers with two

digits:

{11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99}.

There are 90 palindromic numbers with

three digits (Using the Rule of product: 9
choices for the first digit - which
determines the third digit as well -
multiplied by 10 choices for the second
digit):
 {101, 111, 121, 131, 141, 151, 161, 171,
181, 191, …, 909, 919, 929, 939, 949, 959,
969, 979, 989, 999}

There are likewise 90 palindromic numbers

with four digits (again, 9 choices for the
first digit multiplied by ten choices for the
second digit. The other two digits are
determined by the choice of the first two):

{1001, 1111, 1221, 1331, 1441, 1551,

1661, 1771, 1881, 1991, …, 9009, 9119,
9229, 9339, 9449, 9559, 9669, 9779,
9889, 9999},

so there are 199 palindromic numbers

below 104.
Below 105 there are 1099 palindromic
numbers and for other exponents of 10n
we have: 1999, 10999, 19999, 109999,
199999, 1099999, … (sequence A070199 in
the OEIS). The number of palindromic
numbers which have some other property
are listed below:
   101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 1010

n nat ural 10 19 109 199 1099 1999 10999 19999 109999 199999

n even 5 9 49 89 489 889 4889 8889 48889 88889

n odd 5 10 60 110 610 1110 6110 11110 61110 111110

n square 4 7 14 15 20 31

n cube 3 4 5 7 8

n prime 4 5 20 113 781 5953

n squarefree 6 12 67 120 675 1200 6821 12160 + +

n non-squarefree (μ(n)=0) 4 7 42 79 424 799 4178 7839 + +

n square wit h prime root [1] 2 3 5

n wit h an even number of

2 6 35 56 324 583 3383 6093 + +
dist inct prime fact ors (μ(n)=1)

n wit h an odd number of

4 6 32 64 351 617 3438 6067 + +
dist inct prime fact ors (μ(n)=-1)

n even wit h an odd number of

1 2 9 21 100 180 1010 6067 + +
prime fact ors

n even wit h an odd number of

3 4 21 49 268 482 2486 4452 + +
dist inct prime fact ors

n odd wit h an odd number of

3 4 23 43 251 437 2428 4315 + +
prime fact ors

n odd wit h an odd number of

4 5 28 56 317 566 3070 5607 + +
dist inct prime fact ors

n even squarefree wit h an even

number of (dist inct ) prime 1 2 11 15 98 171 991 1782 + +
fact ors

n odd squarefree wit h an even

number of (dist inct ) prime 1 4 24 41 226 412 2392 4221 + +
fact ors

n odd wit h exact ly 2 prime

1 4 25 39 205 303 1768 2403 + +
fact ors

n even wit h exact ly 2 prime 2 3 11 64 413 + +

fact ors

n even wit h exact ly 3 prime

1 3 14 24 122 179 1056 1400 + +
fact ors

n even wit h exact ly 3 dist inct

0 1 18 44 250 390 2001 2814 + +
prime fact ors

n odd wit h exact ly 3 prime

0 1 12 34 173 348 1762 3292 + +
fact ors

n Carmichael number 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1

n for which σ(n) is palindromic 6 10 47 114 688 1417 5683 + + +

Perfect powers E…

There are many palindromic perfect

powers nk, where n is a natural number and
k is 2, 3 or 4.

Palindromic squares: 0, 1, 4, 9, 121, 484,

676, 10201, 12321, 14641, 40804, 44944,
... (sequence A002779 in the OEIS)
Palindromic cubes: 0, 1, 8, 343, 1331,
1030301, 1367631, 1003003001, ...
 (sequence A002781 in the OEIS)
Palindromic fourth powers: 0, 1, 14641,
104060401, 1004006004001, ...
(sequence A186080 in the OEIS)

The first nine terms of the sequence 12,

112, 1112, 11112, ... form the palindromes
1, 121, 12321, 1234321, ... (sequence
A002477 in the OEIS)

The only known non-palindromic number

whose cube is a palindrome is 2201, and it
is a conjecture the fourth root of all the
palindrome fourth powers are a
palindrome with 100000...000001 (10n +
1).
G. J. Simmons conjectured there are no
palindromes of form nk for k > 4 (and n >
1).[2]

Other bases
Palindromic numbers can be considered in
numeral systems other than decimal. For
example, the binary palindromic numbers
are:

0, 1, 11, 101, 111, 1001, 1111, 10001,

10101, 11011, 11111, 100001, ...
(sequence A057148 in the OEIS)

or in decimal:
 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 17, 21, 27, 31, 33, ...
(sequence A006995 in the OEIS)

The Fermat primes and the Mersenne

primes form a subset of the binary
palindromic primes.

Any number is palindromic in all bases

with (trivially so, because is then
a single-digit number), and also in base
(because is then ). Even
excluding cases where the number is
smaller than the base, most numbers are
palindromic in more than one base. For
example,

, . A number that is non-

palindromic in all bases where
is called a strictly non-
palindromic number.

In base 7, because 1017 is twice a perfect

square (52=347), several of its multiples
are palindromic squares:

132 = 202
262 = 1111
552 = 4444
1012 =10201
1432 =24442

In base 18, some powers of seven are

palindromic:
70 = 1
71 = 7
73 = 111
74 = 777
76 = 12321
79 =1367631

And in base 24 the first eight powers of

five are palindromic as well:
50 = 1
51 = 5
52 = 11
53 = 55
54 = 121
55 = 5A5
56 = 1331
57 = 5FF5
58 = 14641
5A = 15AA51
5C =16FLF61

A palindromic number in base b that is

made up of palindromic sequences of
length l arranged in a palindromic order
(such as 101 111 010 111 1012) is
palindromic in base bl (for example the
above binary number is palindromic in
base 23=8 (it is equal to 572758))

The square of 13310 in base 30 is 4D302 =

KKK30 = 3R362 = DPD36. In base 24 there
are more palindromic squares due to 52 =
11. And squares of all numbers in the form
1666...6667 (with any number of 6'es
between the 1 and 7) are palindromic.
1672 = 1E5E1, 16672 = 1E3K3E1, 166672 =
1E3H8H3E1.

Lychrel process
Non-palindromic numbers can be paired
with palindromic ones via a series of
operations. First, the non-palindromic
number is reversed and the result is added
to the original number. If the result is not a
palindromic number, this is repeated until it
gives a palindromic number. Such number
is called "a delayed palindrome".

It is not known whether all non-palindromic

numbers can be paired with palindromic
numbers in this way. While no number has
been proven to be unpaired, many do not
appear to be. For example, 196 does not
yield a palindrome even after 700,000,000
iterations. Any number that never becomes
palindromic in this way is known as a
Lychrel number.
On January 24, 2017, the number
1,999,291,987,030,606,810 was published
in OEIS as A281509 and announced "The
Largest Known Most Delayed Palindrome".
The sequence of 125 261-step most
delayed palindromes preceding
1,999,291,987,030,606,810 and not
reported before was published separately
as A281508.

Sum of the reciprocals

The sum of the reciprocals of the
palindromic numbers is a convergent
series, whose value is approximately
3.37028... (sequence A118031 in the
OEIS).

Scheherazade numbers
Scheherazade numbers are a set of
numbers identified by Buckminster Fuller in
his book Synergetics.[3] Fuller does not
give a formal definition for this term, but
from the examples he gives, it can be
understood to be those numbers that
contain a factor of the primorial n#, where
n≥13 and is the largest prime factor in the
number. Fuller called these numbers
Scheherazade numbers because they
must have a factor of 1001. Scheherazade
is the storyteller of One Thousand and One
Nights, telling a new story each night to
delay her execution. Since n must be at
least 13, the primorial must be at least
1·2·3·5·7·11·13, and 7×11×13 = 1001.
Fuller also refers to powers of 1001 as
Scheherazade numbers. The smallest
primorial containing Scheherazade number
is 13# = 30,030.

Fuller pointed out that some of these

numbers are palindromic by groups of
digits. For instance 17# = 510,510 shows a
symmetry of groups of three digits. Fuller
called such numbers Scheherazade
Sublimely Rememberable Comprehensive
Dividends, or SSRCD numbers. Fuller notes
that 1001 raised to a power not only
produces sublimely rememberable
numbers that are palindromic in three-digit
groups, but also the values of the groups
are the binomial coefficients. For instance,

This sequence fails at (1001)13 because

there is a carry digit taken into the group to
the left in some groups. Fuller suggests
writing these spillovers on a separate line.
If this is done, using more spillover lines as
necessary, the symmetry is preserved
indefinitely to any power.[4] Many other
Scheherazade numbers show similar
symmetries when expressed in this way.[5]

Sums of palindromes
In 2018, a paper was published
demonstrating that every positive integer
can be written as the sum of three
palindromic numbers in every number
system with base 5 or greater.[6]

See also
Lychrel number
Palindromic prime
Palindrome
 Strictly non-palindromic number

Notes
1. (sequence A065379 in the OEIS) The
next example is 19 digits -
900075181570009.
2. Murray S. Klamkin (1990), Problems
in applied mathematics: selections
from SIAM review, p. 520 .
3. R. Buckminster Fuller, with E. J.
Applewhite, Synergetics: Explorations
in the Geometry of thinking ,
Macmillan, 1982 ISBN 0-02-065320-4.
4. Fuller, pp. 773-774
5. Fuller, pp. 777-780
 . Cilleruelo, Javier; Luca, Florian;
Baxter, Lewis (2016-02-19). "Every
positive integer is a sum of three
palindromes" . Mathematics of
Computation. (arXiv preprint )

References
Malcolm E. Lines: A Number for Your
Thoughts: Facts and Speculations about
Number from Euclid to the latest
Computers: CRC Press 1986, ISBN 0-
85274-495-1, S. 61 (Limited Online-
Version (Google Books) )

External links
Weisstein, Eric W. "Palindromic
Number" . MathWorld.
Jason Doucette - 196 Palindrome Quest
/ Most Delayed Palindromic Number
196 and Other Lychrel Numbers
On General Palindromic Numbers at
MathPages
Palindromic Numbers to 100,000 from
Ask Dr. Math
P. De Geest, Palindromic cubes
Yutaka Nishiyama, Numerical
Palindromes and the 196 Problem ,
IJPAM, Vol.80, No.3, 375-384, 2012.
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