- #1
kieth89
- 31
- 0
Homework Statement
Taken from Wikipedia's Palindromic number entry, under formal definition header:
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:
[itex]n = ^{k} _{i=0}\sum{a_{i}b^{i}}[/itex]
NOTE: The K should be above the sigma, the i = 0 below..but I couldn't figure out the Itex notation for that..
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.
Homework Equations
None
The Attempt at a Solution
Can't really attempt it..basically I just don't know how to interpret the a_sub i part..what does that mean? Is this showing me a pattern that I can use to determine if a number is palndromic? If so, what is the pattern.
sub letters have always bugged me.., thanks for any help