Number Gossip
(Enter a number and I'll tell you everything you wanted to know about it but were afraid to ask.)
Rare Properties of 2173
Common Properties of 2173
To build the lucky number sequence, start with natural numbers. Delete every second number, leaving 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, ... . The second number remaining is 3, so delete every third number, leaving 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 19, 21, ... . The next number remaining is 7, so delete every 7th number, leaving 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, ... . The next number remaining is 9, so delete every ninth number, etc.
Those numbers were lucky they weren't crossed out.
A composite number is called a Smith number if the sum of its digits equals the sum of all the digits appearing in its prime divisors (counting multiplicity).
In 1984, when Albert Wilansky called his brother-in-law, named Smith, he noticed that the phone number possesses the property described here. Are they called joke numbers, because they were named after an innocent unsuspecting brother-in-law :-) ?