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Nerd Alert - Math Serial Numbers

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GerrodH's Avatar
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89 Posts
 Posted 07/23/2012  1:44 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add GerrodH to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I am a math nerd, and I also enjoy collecting coins and notes. For the past few years I have been keeping an eye out for math serial numbers but have had no success. I'm looking for pi, e or phi serial numbers.
pi = 31415926 or rounded 31415927
e = 27182818
phi = 26180339 or rounded 26180340

Has anyone else done this? If so, photos?! I'm interested in getting them for sure and would also like to know if anyone has any strategies to get them or places that might sell them.
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oih82w8's Avatar
United States
7840 Posts
 Posted 07/23/2012  2:00 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add oih82w8 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Never thought of pi or any other "math" serial numbers. Good Luck with that, sounds interesting!
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ragpicker's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 07/23/2012  3:13 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add ragpicker to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I like the low numbered notes like 00000012. My favorite is 00000013!
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Nickelman's Avatar
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1397 Posts
 Posted 07/23/2012  3:25 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Nickelman to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Pi note topics show up here a couple of times a year. Here is the last one https://goccf.com/t/120032
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Ceylon62's Avatar
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 Posted 07/23/2012  5:09 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Ceylon62 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Has anyone else done this?


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........
Rest in Peace
Buddy's Avatar
United States
7075 Posts
 Posted 07/23/2012  5:45 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Buddy to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I'll keep an eye out for those numbers.
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16827 Posts
 Posted 07/23/2012  7:04 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
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".
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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GerrodH's Avatar
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 Posted 07/23/2012  8:50 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add GerrodH to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I'm definitely going to hang around. I really like this forum.

If anyone has a picture of a pi note, I really would like to see it! :) One of these days I'll get serious about finding it and buy 1000's of ones at a time if I have to.

The cool thing about the notes being hard to recognize is that I know they're still out there.
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Nickelman's Avatar
United States
1397 Posts
 Posted 07/23/2012  9:32 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Nickelman to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
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

Quote:
The odds of finding ... Solids are 1 in 10,000,000


You forgot that 00000000 isn't a valid serial, so the odds go up a smidge.
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
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 Posted 07/24/2012  11:06 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

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

True; my odds were very rough ball-park figures. "99999999" isn't a valid number either because the serials don;t go that high, at least not for US notes, so (for example) the true probability of a solid is only 8:96,200,000 or 1:12,025,000. You can see more precise probability estimates and discussion about it in this old thread.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Nickelman's Avatar
United States
1397 Posts
 Posted 07/25/2012  08:16 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Nickelman to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
"99999999" isn't a valid number either because the serials don;t go that high, at least not for US notes,


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.
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Ceylon62's Avatar
United States
1285 Posts
 Posted 07/25/2012  12:38 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Ceylon62 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
The presumption being made here is that someone gets 100 Mil in sequential notes...never going happen....That being said

The odds are what they are...
and to quote a few words from Harry potter..."sheer dumb luck" comes into play as well.
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matthewvincent's Avatar
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3486 Posts
 Posted 07/25/2012  1:17 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add matthewvincent to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
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.
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Nickelman's Avatar
United States
1397 Posts
 Posted 07/25/2012  2:00 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Nickelman to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Prove or disprove - Every serial number is interesting.


Not to me, but if they are to you I certainly respect your right to think so. Just don't try to make a living selling cube root notes, I suspect you will starve long before your first sale.
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GerrodH's Avatar
United States
89 Posts
 Posted 07/26/2012  5:13 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add GerrodH to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
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?
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DavidUK's Avatar
United Kingdom
2624 Posts
 Posted 07/26/2012  6:59 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add DavidUK to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I am a big fan of Feynman... some of you may know that he worked on the Manhatten project but when he was there he took a guess at the combination of the safe that held all the atomic secrets, it opened when he tried E.

I think looking for any serials is a little nerdy but maths constants no more so than just looking for a low number or a repeater.

No offence but really collecting different dates of coins and serial numbers on notes is a nerd activity even if I do some of it myself.
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