Partition and sum is fast
History and Overview
2015-01-19 v1 Discrete Mathematics
Abstract
We consider the following "partition and sum" operation on a natural number: Treating the number as a long string of digits insert several plus signs in between some of the digits and carry out the indicated sum. This results in a smaller number and repeated application can always reduce the number to a single digit. We show that surprisingly few iterations of this operation are needed to get down to a single digit.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1501.04067,
title = {Partition and sum is fast},
author = {Steve Butler and Ron Graham and Richard Stong},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.04067},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
4 pages