Palindromic number

A palindromic number is a 'symmetrical' number like 16461, that remains the same when its digits are reversed. The term palindromic is derived from palindrome, which refers to a word like rotor that remains unchanged under reversal of its letters.

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Palindromic numbers receive most attention in the realm of recreational mathematics. A typical problem asks for numbers that possess a certain property and are palindromic. For instance,

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• the palindromic primes are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 101, 131, 151, … {{OEIS|id=A002385}}
• the palindromic perfect squares are 0, 1, 4, 9, 121, 484, 676, 10201, 12321, …

Buckminster Fuller referred to palindromic numbers as Scheherazade numbers in his book Synergetics, because Scheherazade was the name of the story-telling wife in the 1001 Arabian Nights.

Related Topics:
Buckminster Fuller - Synergetics - Scheherazade - 1001 Arabian Nights

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Palindromic number: Formal definition ►