Larry Hosken: New: Tag: jargon

Leet Numbers

I just watched the Numberphile video about Apocalyptic Numbers. An apocalyptic number is a power of two whose decimal representation contains the digits "666". I nodded along: of course, Christian folks would get interested about numbers that contain "666". But then I thought about it some more and wondered: Why would those Christian people care about powers of two so much? If you're going to look for "666" in some numbers, why not Fibonacci numbers or powers of three or what-have-you?

Who should care about powers of two? Computer programmers, that's who. But not all computer programmers are Christian; not all care about 666.

I think we should instead focus on Leet numbers, powers of two that contain "1337". Yes, I just made up the term "Leet numbers," but I'm sticking to it.

The first Leet number is 2394 = 40347654345107946713373737062547060536401653012956617387979052445947619094013143666088208645002153616185987062074179584.

The first Eleet number (containing "31337") is 2454 = 46517678354918840995156723704832290198633047083988355858015372747560914439257467092876227245680868195888801382801035387746214504231337984.

Now that that's settled, I guess I should come up with 15 minutes' worth of things to say about that and then get in touch with the Computerphile people to make a video.

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