Nerd Alert - Math Serial Numbers

GerrodH...some of us have been at this for a while with PI...It's NOT that EASY.

Welcome and it's refreshing to see someone with odd ball interests like some of US around here. Hope you hang around........

The problem with looking for exact specific serial numbers, whatever that specific number may be, is the sheer improbability of finding one. The odds of finding radars are (roughly) 1 in 10,000 notes. Two-digit repeaters are 1 in 1,000,000. Solids are 1 in 10,000,000. An exact specific serial number, such as your birth-date, your telephone number, solid-8s or the numerals of pi, are 1 in 100,000,000. You have a higher probability of being killed by a meteorite, than of examining one banknote and it just happening to have the serial number you seek. Of course, if you're in a position to search through tens of thousands of notes, your odds of actually finding one increase proportionally.

Also working against you is the digits of pi, e and other constants are essentially random to a casual observer. The human mind seeks patterns, and the digits of pi are patternless. Which means that you have to be, to quote the thread title, a "nerd" who has trained themselves to recognize the digits of pi (without the decimal point) as a pattern in order to even detect one. I have to admit, not being such a mathematically trained mind, that if someone posted a note with serial number 31415927 (or, for that matter, an "almost-pi" like 31419527) and asked if it were special, I might think, "I've seen that number somewhere before", but I'd still say, "Nope - that serial number's nothing special".

first off if you are looking for specific number and the odds of finding it are 1 in 100 million and you buy 1000 notes a week looking for it you will be very old by the time you find it, around 2000 years old.

Second



You forgot that 00000000 isn't a valid serial, so the odds go up a smidge.

The serials do go that high, you just probably wont see one in circulation since they are on uncut sheets or older notes. But then for that matter, you probably wont see any other solid in circulation either.

I cannot resist this:

Prove or disprove - Every serial number is interesting.

Assume that there is a number which is not interesting.
If so, there might be a smaller number which is not interesting.
Continue this reasoning until you get to the lowest uninteresting number.
The fact that it is the lowest uninteresting number makes it interesting.
Continue back up the line and you have proved that EVERY serial number is interesting.

Why stop with PI?
Square roots, cube roots.
Fibonacci series.
12481632 (powers of 2)

ALL numbers are interesting!

I am not a math nerd but I like numbers.

Given someone finds a $1 Pi note with serial #31415926. What would be an appropriate cost for it? Essentially, how much would I have to pay or offer in bounty for it? I know it's a specialized note but there also isn't that much overall demand. Does anyone else have a similarly obscure interest and how much does it cost you?

I just got done reading Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. I'm a fan too.

Thanks for the info Ceylon. Once I'm on this board a little longer and can buy stuff, I'll put up a bounty for it.