Math Miscellany


Interesting Digit Patterns

You may have seen this:

1/81 = 0.012345679012345679...

But you may not have seen this:

1/243 = 0.004115226337448559...

How does the pattern continue? What is special about the number 243? (Hint: find its factors.) What causes the pattern? Are there analogous numbers in other bases?

Source: I found this in "Surely, You're Joking Mr. Feynmann" by Richard Feynmann.


Keith Enevoldsen's Think Zone