So I saw this on fb and thought Id get my mathematician mother to weigh in. Her response was too good not to share. Warning: high geekery alert. Dear KimEllen, You asked! This was really interesting. Talk about Pseudo-science! This is an excellent example of Circular Logic, where you assume your conclusion. (Therefore it must be true. ) They start with 360, which happens to be a multiple of 9. Since 9 is one less than our base 10, any multiple of 9s digits will always add up to a multiply of 9. Keep adding the digits and you will always end up with 9. Example: 9 x 87 = 783, 7 + 8 + 3 = 18. 1+8 = 9. If we used a base 5 system, 4 would act the same way. In base 12, 11 would. If you want to see a proof, Ill gladly show you!!!!!!! Multiplying or dividing a multiple of a number by another number (other than itself, in the case of division), will not change the fact that it is a multiple of the given number. So multiply or divide any multiple of 9 by any Non-nine integer and you will still have a multiple of nine. So the sum of the digits will always eventually add to nine! This is simple number theory. So, of course, if you start with 360 and divided it by two, every number will still be a multiply of nine and the digits will always add to nine. Was 360 degrees in a circle arbitrary? Sort of. The Ancient Babylonians used a base 60 system, but they counted in groups of ten. 60 squared is 3600. Divide that by 10 and you get 360. So they divided a circle into 360 degrees, (No one knows why.) which then led to 90 degrees being the measurement for a right angle, 60 degrees as the measurement of the angle of an equilateral triangle, and on and on. See the circular logic? You can also tell that a mathematician didnt write this. Reduce does not mean the same thing as Sum of the digits . The add a digit to nine and the sum of the digits of the resulting number add up to the original digit is also just a result of 9 being 1 less than the base 10. As you know, I could go on and on, but I think this is enough! Love, Your Mother P.S . I know. Blah, blah blah!
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 05:15:09 +0000
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