William Stanley Jevons - Number Theory

Number Theory

Jevons had written in his Principles of Science, p. 123, "Can the reader say what two numbers multiplied together will produce the number 8616460799 ? I think it unlikely that anyone but myself will ever know." This became known as Jevons' Number and was factored by Derrick Norman Lehmer in 1903 and later on a pocket calculator by Solomon W. Golomb.

Read more about this topic:  William Stanley Jevons

Famous quotes containing the words number and/or theory:

    It is not the number of years we have behind us, but the number we have before us, that makes us careful and responsible and determined to find out the truth about everything.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    The human species, according to the best theory I can form of it, is composed of two distinct races, the men who borrow and the men who lend.
    Charles Lamb (1775–1834)