Aziz S. Inan really likes to have fun with numbers.
The professor of electrical engineering at the University of Portland finds puzzles involving digits of pi, palindrome numbers and prime numbers in specific dates, celebrity birthdays and other items of numerical relevance. His genius-level knack for it has earned him recognition from the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times and points in between.
So, when he found numerous instances of mathematical significance in pop star Britney Spears’ 40th birthday, which was Thursday, he called her hometown paper, the Enterprise-Journal.
“I looked at Britney Spears’ birthday and I saw the palindromes in her birthday and her name,” Inan said.
A palindrome is a word or series of numbers that reads the same backwards as forwards.
In a mathematical celebration of the Kentwood, La., native and former Parklane Academy student reaching the big 4-0, Inan said it’s interesting to consider:
• Spears’ 40th birthday is an eight-digit palindrome date: 12/02/2021.
• 40 equals 2x2x2x5 and interestingly, 2+2+2+5= 11, a palindrome number.
• If the letters A to Z are assigned numbers 1 to 26, then the sum of the letter numbers of her first and last name equals 171, another palindrome number.
• The prime factors of 171 — 3 and 19 — add up to 22, another palindrome.
• If Spears’s 40th birthday is expressed in short as 12/2/21, interestingly, 12221 equals 11x101x11, a palindromic arithmetic expression.
• Additionally, the prime factors of Spears’s birth date 1202 (Dec. 2) are 2 and 601, which are the first and 110th prime numbers and 1+110=111, another palindrome.
• Half of 1202 is 601, the 110th prime number and half of 110 is 55, another palindrome. Furthermore, if Spears’s 40th birthday expressed as 12/02/2021 is split into 12, 02, 20, 21, then 12+02 20+21=55.
“This is the kind of stuff I do,” Inan said. “This is a hobby that I developed. Because I have a skill with numbers, particularly calendar date numbers, I sometimes look for people’s names — well-known scientists, singers, actors and actresses — if they have a birthday coming up I try to look and see if there is something that I can come up with as an abstract gift.”
As for Spears, “This could be a nice, interesting celebration for her birthday,” he said.
To be clear, not everybody has a birthday where the numbers add up to interesting mathematical puzzles, let alone seven of them, Inan said in pointing out the numerical significance of Spears’ 40th.
“Sometimes if I’m working on somebody’s birthday or somebody’s name, no matter how hard I try, nothing interesting ever comes up,” he said. “In the big picture, every number has some interesting property, no question about that, but it’s not always something everybody can relate to.”
Inan said palindrome days in particular are rare, and every one through Dec. 9, along with Dec. 11 and Dec. 22, will be the last time a palindrome day occurs in December this century. “All nine consecutive days from Dec. 1 through Dec. 9 are palindrome days,” he said.
Inan said he developed the ability in order to sharpen his skills as a voracious math student.
“We need more of this type of exercise, particularly among children,” he said. “I get a lot of fun out of it and when I share this sort of thing people get very excited.”
