Vernon,
If you "cluster" a multiple of 999, you will get a multiple of 999, and so
it is not surprising that you can find one that is exactly 999. Since 91
divides 999,999 and is relatively prime to 999, the decimal expansion of
its reciprocal has as its repeating sequence a multiple of 999 and fits
the above remark about clustering.
Most of the properties of 37 that you point out concern its relation to
three-digit numbers and are also true for the other divisors of 999. If
you look at four-digit numbers, you will find the same amazing properties
of divisors of 9999. For five-digit numbers look at the divisors of 99999,
etc. For any number ending in 1, 3, 7, or 9, there will be some n such
that this number has such relations to n-digit numbers. Thus I don't see
any advantage in trying to base Christian apologetics on the properties of
these numbers, and it might be easier to get people to listen to valid
apologetical arguments if they haven't previously been exposed to these.
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
On Sat, 1 Apr 2000, Vernon Jenkins wrote:
> Whilst I am in tune with much of what you have to say, I cannot agree
> that my claims re 37 'are very much overblown.' - as though I were
> basing my thesis on its radix-dependent properties alone. Strangely, you
> have failed to comment on the remarkable absolute features of this
> number, and its companion, 91. Was this an oversight?
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