Can anyone share the proof for the following?

Today when I was surfing the internet I stumbled across this video.This was fasinating.

Take any 3 digit number, rearrange the numbers to form the largest number and the smallest number possible.

Subtract the two, repeat the process and eventually you will end at the number 495.

If you do this with any 4 digit number you get 6174.

I really wanted to know the proof of this. Can anybody please share the proof?Please

Note by Shriniketan Ruppa
11 months, 4 weeks ago

No vote yet
1 vote

  Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

  • Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
  • Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
  • Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
  • Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

MarkdownAppears as
*italics* or _italics_ italics
**bold** or __bold__ bold

- bulleted
- list

  • bulleted
  • list

1. numbered
2. list

  1. numbered
  2. list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1

paragraph 2

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

[example link](https://brilliant.org)example link
> This is a quote
This is a quote
    # I indented these lines
    # 4 spaces, and now they show
    # up as a code block.

    print "hello world"
# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"
MathAppears as
Remember to wrap math in \( ... \) or \[ ... \] to ensure proper formatting.
2 \times 3 2×3 2 \times 3
2^{34} 234 2^{34}
a_{i-1} ai1 a_{i-1}
\frac{2}{3} 23 \frac{2}{3}
\sqrt{2} 2 \sqrt{2}
\sum_{i=1}^3 i=13 \sum_{i=1}^3
\sin \theta sinθ \sin \theta
\boxed{123} 123 \boxed{123}

Comments

The algebraic proof is pretty intricate, and I'm too tired for LaTeX\LaTeX, so here's a table of values.

Ved Pradhan - 11 months, 4 weeks ago

Log in to reply

If ac=0a-c=0 or ac=1a-c=1, the values leave 3 digit numbers and approach zero.

For four digit numbers, a similar proof can be used, but it might take more time.

Ved Pradhan - 11 months, 4 weeks ago

Kaprekar's constant

Pi Han Goh - 11 months, 4 weeks ago

I think it is a result by iteration.

Zakir Husain - 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Some number which don't get to 495495:111,222,333,444,555,666,777,888,999111,222,333,444,555,666,777,888,999

Zakir Husain - 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Log in to reply

@Zakir Husain : As you can see if you look in the reply to my comment, the numbers that don't converge to 495 are numbers where the difference between the biggest and smallest numbers are 1 or 0. For the numbers where this is 1 or 0, the sequence converges to 0.

Ved Pradhan - 11 months, 3 weeks ago
×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...