What numbers tell us?

At 10 pm I was told to write a short article on the titled topic. The deadline for submission was 11:59pm. I couldn't think better, and this is it......

Old Password **********

New Password __________ thinking, thinking………..Well, what should it be – my date of birth…..nah! Too short! My mobile number…….nah! Guessable! My credit card number……nah! Too long! Passport number, PAN number, school roll number, car number, his number, her number, what should I prefer? And then I saw the news in the morning newspaper about ‘Unique’ Identity Number. Does a single number really identify us?

My mind then plunged in the deep pool of mathematics, and what it finds is quite exhilarating. There are numbers which one can’t think of, numbers which christen themselves as perfect, lonely, Fibonacci, Armstrong, etc. Numbers tell us that even they have feelings; that even they compete to excel. Every number has a story to tell. Have a look:

0 à a unique number, neither positive nor negative

1 à neither prime nor composite

2 à first prime

3 à only prime to come after a prime

4 à only number which results after multiplication and addition of the same number

5 à part of the only set of alternate primes (3,5,7)

6 à first perfect number

7 à again, part of the only set of alternate primes (3,5,7)

8 à smallest sum of two factorials of distinct primes; is also the largest cube in the Fibonacci series

9 à the digits of its multiples when added give 9 only

10 à first two digit number

11 à first palindrome number

I can go on and on.

Numbers also take pride in the fact that they carry with themselves a luck tank. Each number gulps down a certain amount of luck potion and arbitrarily chooses a sun sign just to advertise themselves in the horoscope section.

Well, as for my new password, I will keep it a password.