Euler in Babylon

Coded triangle numbers

April 25, 2003

The nth term of the sequence of triangle numbers is given by, tn = ½n(n+1); so the first ten triangle numbers are:

1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, ...

By converting each letter in a word to a number corresponding to its alphabetical position and adding these values we form a word value. For example, the word value for SKY is 19 + 11 + 25 = 55 = t10. If the word value is a triangle number then we shall call the word a triangle word.

Using words.txt (right click and 'Save Link/Target As...'), a 16K text file containing nearly two-thousand common English words, how many are triangle words?


gamwe6

Written by gamwe6 who lives and works in San Francisco building useful things. You should follow him on Twitter