December 2021

Cool math titbits

National Mathematics Day

December 22 is celebrated as the National Mathematics Day in honor of the birth anniversary of Indian Mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.

SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN

Ruth-Aaron Pair

Ruth-Aaron pair consists of consecutive numbers such that the sum of their prime factors are equal.

grayscale photo of man in baseball uniform standing on field

Ruth and Aaron are baseball players. Aaron scored 715 home runs and broke the previous record of 714 home runs held by Ruth.

The name Ruth-Aaron pair was given by Carl Pomerance. It was first noticed and solved by his colleague’s student.

The prime factors of 715 and 714 are as follows,

715 = 2 X 3 X 7 X 17

714 = 5 X 11 X 13

The sum of the prime factors of both the numbers is 29 respectively.

The mathematicians Carl Pomerance and his colleagues Carol Nelson and David.E.Penny tried to find more Ruth-Aaron pairs, Some of the few examples are given below

  1. 5 and 6

5 = 5

6 = 2 X 3

2. 8 and 9

8 = 2 X 2 X 2

9 = 3 X 3

3. 15 and 16

15 = 3 X 5

16 = 2 X 2 X 2 X 2

4. 77 and 78

77 = 7 X 11

78 = 2 X 3 X 13

5. 714 and 715

715 = 2 X 3 X 7 X 17

714 = 5 X 11 X 13