Number 6 Number 6 Number 6

Candid photos from Arnold 2008 prejudging, photographs by me, Lori Braun:

 

Comments

[Sven]

I hadn't noticed before, but multiples of 6 show an interesting pattern: 3-9-6. Added together, these numbers reduce to 9. I guess "If 6 Were 9" is not a hypothesis. (Of course, multiple 3s exhibit the pattern 3-6-9, which also reduces to 9.) The only integer that only reduces to itself other than "1" is "9". I call these "stable numbers". Any mathematicians in the house?

6
6+6=(12)=3
6+6+6=(18)=9
6+6+6+6=(24)=6
6+6+6+6+6=(30)=3
6+6+6+6+6+6=(36)=9
6+6+6+6+6+6+6=(42)=6
and so on.

[Karlheinz]

Technically, the pattern for 6 is 6-3-9, not 3-9-6.

[Sven]

Thanks, Karl! I did mess that up.

[Karlheinz]

Just another small clarification. I believe "9" is the only integer that reduces to itself. "1" does not: 1+1=2+1=3, etc. Anyway, this statement is also not precise. No integer reduces to itself alone; only when combined with another number. "9" being the highest integer in the decimal system, always "reduces" to itself when added with any other single integer, or with any number of additional nines. I learned this on an LSD trip.

[Sven]

Oh yes, what was I thinking? Perhaps I had meant to say "one is the loneliest number" but felt queasy about it. Should've taken more LSD when I was at school.

[Brandy Alexander]

I see another pattern in 639:

6+9=(15) 6
3+9=(12) 3
6+3= (9) 9

6+3+6=(15) 6
9+9+3=(21) 3
6+3+9=(18) 9

Technically, Karlheinz,9 does not reduce to itself in combination with any integer except 9. All other integers added to 9 reduce to themselves. e.g. 6+9=(15)or 6. I leaqrned this while NOT on an LSD trip.