Amazing

Feb 26, 2016

999,999,999,999,998,000,000,000,000,001 is a Sequence Number that generates a counting sequence, written in 15 digit strings.  The decimal expansion of the inverse of this number counts from zero to 999,999,999,999,997 before making an error.  If you searched this number you would find that it contains your birth date, graduation date, anniversary, and every other important date in your life – including the date you will die.  It contains the birth date of all of your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren – even the ones that have not been born yet.  It contains your phone number, your work phone number, and the phone number of all of your family members, and all of your friends (even the ones that you have not met yet.  It contains all of the Social Security Numbers of every U.S. citizen (including the Presidents).  It contains the date of your next dentist appointment, and the date of your first dentist appointment.  It contains your current age whether you measure it in years, months, moons, weeks, days, hours, or minutes.  And even though the decimal expansion of pi might also have all of these numbers, the decimal expansion of the inverse of this sequences number has arranged all of these numbers in numerical order, and does it with a repeating decimal instead of an infinitely long decimal expansion.

David Brooks