Dudeney Numbers and Number Bases

7 August 2017 | Nolan Manteufel

Abstract Dudeney Numbers and Number Bases

This paper is a recreational math excursion regarding Dudeneys riddle introduced the reader to numbers 512 (8)

Dudeney Numbers1 and concludes with a suggested and 4,913 (17), and then encouraged the reader to discover

application in light-weight encryption. all the other numbers whose cube root is the same as the

sum of their digits. Excluding the case of the number one,

Introduction
Dudeney went on to state They are so few that they can be
Dudeney numbers are numbers where the sum of the
counted on the fingers of one hand.
numbers digits equals the numbers cube root. Dudeney
As an electrical engineer with a fascination for how
revealed that there are only six such numbers.
numbers are represented and processed, I suspected that the
Table 1 Dudeney Numbers
set of Dudeney numbers is dependent on the number base.
Number Cube Root Sum of Numbers Digits
A quick spreadsheet experiment revealed this hunch to be
1 1 1=1
512 8 5+1+2 = 8 correct.
4,913 17 4+9+1+3 = 17
5,832 18 5+8+3+2 = 18
17,576 26 1+7+5+7+6 = 26 Table 2 Decimal and Hexadecimal Dudeney Numbers
19,683 27 1+9+6+8+3 = 27
n3dec n3hex
n dec n hex n3 dec n3 hex
digits digits

Dudeneys numbers are an introduction to a fascinating 1 1 1 1 1 1

8 8 512 200 8 2
excursion into recreational mathematics. This paper looks 11 B 1331 533 8 B
17 11 4913 1331 17 8
at Dudeney numbers in different numbering systems.
18 12 5832 16C8 18 1B
20 14 8000 1F40 8 14
For convenience, this paper refers to the Dudeney numbers 21 15 9261 242D 18 15
25 19 15625 3D09 19 19
cube roots as Dudeney numbers. This linguistic 26 1A 17576 44A8 26 1A
27 1B 19683 4CE3 27 21
designation deviates from Dudeneys original math riddle. 29 1D 24389 5F45 26 1D
30 1E 27000 6978 9 1E
Hence, eight (8) will be referred to as a Dudeney number, 31 1F 29791 745F 28 1F
34 22 39304 9988 19 22
instead of five hundred twelve (512). 35 23 42875 A77B 26 23
39 27 59319 E7B7 27 27

1
536 Puzzles and Curious Problems. Dudeney, Henry E. 120.

Root Extraction Page 36

Here is a brief list of observations from Table 1. Table 3 Search for Binary Dudeney Numbers

(1) In hexadecimal, there are twelve (12) numbers that n n3dec n3bin
n bin n3 dec n3 bin
dec digits digits
satisfy: ( = ( ))| .
1 1 1 1 1 1
In decimal form, these numbers are: 1, 11, 20, 21, 25, 2 10 8 1000 8 1
3 11 27 11011 9 100
26, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, and 39. 4 100 64 1000000 10 1
5 101 125 1111101 8 110
(2) Numbers 25dec (19hex) and 39dec (27hex) have peculiar 6 110 216 11011000 9 100
7 111 343 101010111 10 110
visual symmetries between their respective cube-digit- 8 1000 512 1000000000 8 1
9 1001 729 1011011001 18 110
sums: 10 1010 1000 1111101000 1 110
11 1011 1331 10100110011 8 110
a. ( 25 ) = 19

b. ( 19 ) = 19
These spreadsheet experiments encourage me to conclude:
c. ( 39 ) = 27
(1) Dudeney numbers exist in numerous base systems.
d. ( 27 ) = 27
(2) Rarely are Dudeney numbers the same between
(3) Number 26dec (1Ahex) is a Dudeney number in both
different base systems.
decimal and hexadecimal form.
(3) Dudeney numbers, like 26dec (1Ahex), may be
(4) Ignoring number one, and counting both decimal
considered super, ultra, mega or robust
and hexadecimal Dudeney numbers, there are seven
Dudeney numbers when they are Dudeney in more
(7) Dudeney numbers on either side of number 26dec
than one number base.
(1Ahex).
(4) When a calculations inputs vary per how numbers are
(5) The occurrence of Dudeney numbers increased
represented, the calculations results will vary per
between base ten and base sixteen.
number representation system.
Feeling inspired, I performed another quick spreadsheet
The last conclusion may be useful for designing light-
experiment looking for Dudeney numbers in base two
weight encryption for low-power communication systems.
(binary). Noticing that nbin begins to significantly exceed
If encryption techniques were designed around Dudeney
the [(nbin)3 digits] around 8dec, I concluded that number
numbers, it may be possible to use/avoid super Dudeney
one is the only binary Dudeney number and did not
numbers to make the techniques more secure.
search for binary Dudeney numbers beyond 11dec.