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Sunder Gupta
Shyam Sunder Gupta: guptass@rediffmail.com
Fascinating Triangular Numbers
The numbers which can be arranged in a compact triangular pattern are termed as
triangular numbers. The triangular numbers are formed by partial sum of the series
1+2+3+4+5+6+7......+n. So
T1 =1
T2 =1+2=3
T3 =1+2+3=6
T4 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10
Flocks of birds often fly in this triangular formation. Even several airplanes when flying
together constitute this formation. The properties of such numbers were first studied by
ancient Greek mathematicians, particularly the Pythagoreans.
Have you heard of the following famous story about the famous mathematician Carl F.
Gauss.
" The teacher asked everyone in the class to find the sum of all the numbers from 1 to
100. To everybody’s surprise, Gauss stood up with the answer 5050 immediately. The
teacher asked him as to how it was done. Gauss explained that instead of adding all the
numbers from 1 to 100, add first and last term i.e. 1 + 100 =101, then add second and
second last term i.e. 2 + 99 =101 and so on. Every pair sum is 101 and their will be 50
such pairs ( total 100 numbers in all to be added), so 101 * 50 = 5050 is the answer. So
the sum of numbers from 1 to N is (N/2)*(N+1), where N/2 are the number of pairs and
N+1 is sum of each pair. This the famous formula for n th triangular number."
T1 + T2 = 1 + 3 = 4 = 22
T2 + T3 = 3 + 6 = 9 = 32
9*T 1 + 1 = 9 * 1 + 1 = 10 = T 4
9*T 2 + 1 = 9 * 3 + 1 = 28 = T 7
8*T 1 + 1 = 8 * 1 + 1 = 9 = 3 2
8*T 2 + 1 = 8 * 3 + 1 = 25 = 5 2
The digital root (i.e. ultimate sum of digits until a single digit is obtained) of
triangular numbers is always 1,3,6 or 9.
T 4 2 = 10 2 = 100 = 1 3 + 2 3 + 3 3 + 4 3
T 5 2 = 15 2 = 225 = 1 3 + 2 3 + 3 3 + 4 3 + 5 3
A triangular number greater than 1, can never be a Cube, a Fourth Power or a Fifth
power.
The square of triangular numbers 1 and 6 produce triangular numbers 1 and 36.
T1 2 = 1 * 1 = 1 = T1
T 3 2 = 6 * 6 = 36 = T 8
Can anybody find the third triangular number whose square is also a triangular number
?.
The numbers in the sequence 1, 11, 111, 1111, 11111,...etc. are all triangular
numbers in base 9.
Palindromic Triangular Numbers: Some of the many triangular numbers, which are
also palindromic ( i.e. reading the same forward as well as backward) are 1, 3, 6, 55,
66, 171, 595, 666, 3003, 5995, 8778, 15051, 66066, 617716, 828828, 1269621,
1680861, 3544453, 5073705, 5676765, 6295926, 351335153, 61477416,
178727871, 1264114621, 1634004361 etc. These can be termed as palindromic
triangular numbers. There are 28 Palindromic Triangular numbers below 10 10 . For
more on these numbers visit Patrick De Geest
Square Triangular Numbers: There are infinitely many triangular numbers, which
are also squares as given by the series 1, 36, 1225, 41616, 1413721, 48024900,
1631432881, 55420693056 etc. These can be termed as Square triangular(ST)
numbers. The n th Square Triangular number K n can easily be obtained from the
recursive formula
K n = 34 * K n-1 - K n-2 + 2.
So knowing the first two ST numbers i.e. K 1 = 1 and K 2 = 36 , all other successive
Square Triangular numbers can be obtained , e.g.
K 3 = 34 * K 2 - K 1 + 2 = 34 * 36 -1 + 2 = 1225
K 4 = 34 * K 3 - K 2 + 2 = 34 * 1225 - 36 + 2 = 41616
The following non- recursive formula also gives n th Square Triangular number in
terms of variable n.
K n = [{(1 + 2 ½ ) 2n - (1 - 2 ½ ) 2n }/(4*2 ½ )] 2
It is interesting to note that digital root of all EVEN Square Triangular Numbers i.e.
36, 41616, 48024900, 55420693056 .. etc is always 9 and digital root of all ODD Square
Triangular Numbers i.e. 1, 1225, 1413721, 1631432881, ... etc is always 1. Also Square
Triangular Numbers can never end in 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 or 9.
There are pairs of triangular numbers such that the sum and difference of numbers in
each pair are also triangular numbers e.g. (15, 21), (105, 171), (378, 703), (780,
990), (1485, 4186), (2145, 3741), (5460, 6786), (7875, 8778)... etc.:
21 + 15 = 36 = T 8 : 21 - 15 = 6 = T 3
and so on.
4 * 5 * 6 = 120 = T 15
5 * 6 * 7 = 210 = T 20
9 * 10 * 11 = 990 = T 44
56 * 57 * 58 = 185136 = T 608
The triangular number 120 is the product of three, four and five consecutive
numbers.
4 * 5 * 6 = 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 = 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 = 120
There are some triangular numbers which are product of two consecutive numbers.
For example 6 is a triangular number which is product of two consecutive numbers 2
and 3. Some others are as shown below:
2 * 3 = 6 = T3
14 * 15 = 210 = T 20
84 * 85 = 7140 = T 119
The triangular numbers which are product of two prime numbers can be termed as
Triangular Semiprimes . For example 6 is a Triangular Semiprimes . Some other
examples of Triangular Semiprimes are:
10,15,21,55,91,253,703,1081,1711,1891,2701,3403,5671,12403,13861,15931,
18721,25651,34453,38503,49141,60031,64261,73153,79003,88831,104653,108811,
114481,126253,146611,158203,171991,188191,218791,226801,258121,269011,286903,
351541,371953,385003,392941,482653,497503 etc as shown below:
2 * 3 = 6 = T3
3 * 5 = 15 = T 5
3 * 7 = 21 = T 6
5 * 11 = 55 = T 10
7 * 13 = 91 = T 13
11 * 23 = 253 = T 22
19 * 37 = 703 = T 37
Harshad (or Niven ) numbers are those numbers which are divisible by their
sum of the digits. For example 1729 ( 19*91) is divisible by 1+7+2+9 =19, so
1729 is a Harshad number.
Harshad Triangular Number can be defined as the Triangular numbers which are
divisible by the sum of their digits. For example, Triangular number 1128 is
divisible by 1+1+2+8 = 12 (i.e. 1128/12 = 94). So 1128 is a Harshad Triangular
Number. Other examples are:
1, 3, 6, 10, 21, 36, 45, 120, 153, 171, 190, 210, 300, 351, 378, 465, 630, 666, 780, 820, 990, 1035,
1128, 1275, 1431, 1540, 1596, 1770, 2016, 2080, 2556, 2628, 2850, 2926, 3160, 3240, 3321, 3486,
3570, 4005, 4465, 4560, 4950, 5050, 5460, 5565, 5778, 5886, 7140, 7260, 8001, 8911, 9180, 10011,
10296, 10440, 11175, 11476, 11628, 12720, 13041, 13203, 14196, 14706, 15225, 15400, 15576,
16110, 16290, 16653, 17020, 17205, 17766, 17955, 18145, 18528, 20100, 21321, 21528, 21736,
21945, 22155, 23220, 23436, 24090, 24310, 24976, 25200, 28680, 29646, 30628, 31626, 32640,
33930, 35245, 36585, 37128, 39060, 40470, 41328, 41616, 43365, 43956, 45150, 46360, 51040, 51360,
51681, 52326, 52650, 53956, 56280, 56616, 61776, 63903, 64620, 65341, 67896, 69006, 70125, 70500,
72010, 73536, 73920, 76636, 78210, 79401, 79800, 80200,81810, 88410, 89676, 90100, 93096, 93528,
97020, 100128, 101025, 103740, 105111, 105570 etc.
If you iterate the process of summing the squares of the decimal digits of a
number and if the process terminates in 1, then the original number is called a
Happy number. For example 7 -> 49 -> 97 -> 130 -> 10 -> 1.
The only Fibonacci Numbers that are also triangular are 1, 3, 21 and 55.
The only triangular Numbers that are also repdigit are 55, 66 and 666.
There are many pairs of triangular numbers T a and T b (where T a > 1 and T b
> and T a is not equal to T b ) such that their product T a *T b is a Perfect Square.
For example:
T 2 * T 24 = 3 * 300 = 900 = 30 2
T 3 * T 48 = 6 * 1176 = 7056 = 84 2
2 4 = 16 = T 3 + T 4 = T 1 + T 5
3 4 = 81 = T 8 + T 9 = T 5 + T 11
4 4 = 256 = T 15 + T 16 = T 11 + T 19
5 4 = 625 = T 24 + T 25 = T 19 + T 29
6 4 = 1296 = T 35 + T 36 = T 29 + T 41
7 4 = 2401 = T 48 + T 49 = T 41 + T 55
1 = T1
1 + 9 = T4
1 + 9 + 9 2 = T 13
1 + 9 + 9 2 + 9 3 = T 40
1 + 9 + 9 2 + 9 3 + 9 4 = T 121
A curious pattern :
T1 + T2 + T3 = T4
T 5 + T 6 + T 7 + T 8 = T 9 + T 10
T 11 + T 12 + T 13 + T 14 + T 15 = T 16 + T 17 + T 18
T 19 + T 20 + T 21 + T 22 + T 23 + T 24 = T 25 + T 26 + T 27 + T 28
Some identities :
T n 2 = T n + T n-1 * T n+1
T n 2 -1 = 2*T n * T n-1
1
11
121
1331
14641
1 5 10 10 5 1
1 6 15 20 15 6 1
1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1
1 8 28 56 70 56 28 8 1
1 9 36 84 126 126 84 36 9 1
Can you find other examples ? For more visit Carlos Rivera.
T 8 + T 35 + T 23 = T 9 + T 21 + T 36
8 + 35 + 23 = 9 + 21 + 36
T 28 + T 29 + T 30 + ... + T 34 = T 83
T 16 + T 17 + T 18 + T 19 = 2*T 25
T 10 = T 5+5 = 55
T T 5 + T T 6 = T 26
T T 12 + T T 14 = T 61
T T 77 + T T 89 = T 376
Numbers such that d(n), the number of divisors of n, is greater than for any
smaller n are called highly composite numbers. If n is a triangular number then
it can be termed as Highly Composite Triangular Number . For example 28 is a
triangular number and d(28) = 6 . Number of divisors of all triangular numbers
less than 28 is less than 6. So 28 is a Highly Composite Triangular number.
Numbers such that s(n), the sum of aliquot divisors of n, is greater than n are
called Abundant numbers. If n is a triangular number then it can be termed as
Abundant Triangular Number . For example 36 is a triangular number and s(36) = 1
+ 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 18 = 55, which is greater than 36. So 36 is a Abundant
Triangular number.
T 90 + T 415 = 90415
If you find any new and interesting observation about triangular numbers, please
email me.
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References:
[1] Ball, W. W. R. and Coxeter, H. S. M. Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 13th ed. New York:
Dover, p. 59, 1987.
[2] Beiler, Albert H. Recreations in the Theory of Numbers. New York: Dover, 1966.
[3] Conway, J. H. and Guy, R. K. The Book of Numbers. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 33-38,
1996.
[4] Dudeney, H. E. Amusements in Mathematics. New York: Dover, pp. 67 and 167, 1970.
[5] Gupta, Shyam Sunder "Curious Properties of triangular numbers." Science Reporter ,
September 1987, India.
[6] Guy, R. K. Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, 2nd ed. New York: Springer-Verlag,
pp. 136-138 and 147-150, 1994.
[8] Madachy, Joseph S. Madachy’s Mathematical Recreations. New York: Dover, 1979.
[9] Pickover, Clifford A. Wonders of Numbers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
[10] Sloane, N. J. A. and Plouffe, S. The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. San Diego, CA:
Academic Press, 1995.
[11] Trotter, T. Jr. "Some Identities for the Triangular Numbers." J. Recr. Math. 6, 128-135, 1973.
http://www.trottermath.net/numthry/trident.html.
[12] Wells, David. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers. Middlesex, England:
Penguin Books, 1997.
[13] Wells, David. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry. London: Penguin
Books, 1991.
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