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DigitalrootWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Digitalroot
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Thedigitalroot(alsorepeateddigitalsum)ofanonnegativeintegeristhe(singledigit)valueobtained
byaniterativeprocessofsummingdigits,oneachiterationusingtheresultfromthepreviousiterationto
computeadigitsum.Theprocesscontinuesuntilasingledigitnumberisreached.
Forexample,thedigitalrootof65,536is7,because6+5+5+3+6=25and2+5=7.
Digitalrootscanbecalculatedwithcongruencesinmodulararithmeticratherthanbyaddingupallthe
digits,aprocedurethatcansavetimeinthecaseofverylargenumbers.
Digitalrootscanbeusedasasortofchecksum.Forexample,sincethedigitalrootofasumisalwaysequal
tothedigitalrootofthesumofthesummands'digitalroots.Apersonaddinglongcolumnsoflarge
numberswilloftenfinditreassuringtoapplycastingoutninestohisresultknowingthatthistechnique
willcatchthemajorityoferrors.
DigitalrootsareusedinWesternnumerology,butcertainnumbersdeemedtohaveoccultsignificance
(suchas11and22)arenotalwayscompletelyreducedtoasingledigit.
Thenumberoftimesthedigitsmustbesummedtoreachthedigitalsumiscalledanumber'sadditive
persistenceintheaboveexample,theadditivepersistenceof65,536is2.

Contents
1 Significanceandformulaofthedigitalroot
2 Abstractmultiplicationofdigitalroots
3 Formaldefinition
3.1 Example
3.2 Proofthataconstantvalueexists
4 Congruenceformula
5 Somepropertiesofdigitalroots
6 Inotherbases
7 Seealso
8 References
9 Externallinks
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Significanceandformulaofthedigitalroot
Ithelpstoseethedigitalrootofapositiveintegerasthepositionitholdswithrespecttothelargestmultiple
of9lessthanit.Forexample,thedigitalrootof11is2,whichmeansthat11isthesecondnumberafter9.
Likewise,thedigitalrootof2035is1,whichmeansthat20351isamultipleof9.Ifanumberproducesa
digitalrootofexactly9,thenthenumberisamultipleof9.
Withthisinmindthedigitalrootofapositiveinteger maybedefinedbyusingfloorfunction

,as

Abstractmultiplicationofdigitalroots
Thetablebelowshowsthedigitalrootsproducedbythefamiliarmultiplicationtableinthedecimalsystem.
dr

ThetableshowsanumberofinterestingpatternsandsymmetriesandisknownastheVedicsquare.

Formaldefinition
Let

denotethesumofthedigitsof andletthecompositionof

Eventuallythesequence
sumof )representthisonedigitnumber.

asfollows:

becomesaonedigitnumber.Let

(thedigital

Example
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Letusfindthedigitalsumof

DigitalrootWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Thus,

Forsimplicityletusagreesimplythat

Proofthataconstantvalueexists
Howdoweknowthatthesequence
Here'saproof:

eventuallybecomesaonedigitnumber?

Let
than10.Then,

,forall , isanintegergreaterthanorequalto0andless
.Thismeansthat
,unless
,inwhichcase isaonedigitnumber.Thus,repeatedlyusingthe
function
wouldcause todecreasebyatleast1,untilitbecomesaonedigitnumber,atwhichpointitwillstay
constant,as
.

Congruenceformula
Theformulais:

or,

Togeneralizetheconceptofdigitalrootstootherbasesb,onecansimplychangethe9intheformulatob
1.
(sequenceA010888inOEIS)
Thedigitalrootisthevaluemodulo9because
andthus
soregardlessofposition,thevaluemod9isthesame
whichiswhydigitscanbemeaningfullyadded.Concretely,fora
threedigitnumber,
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Toobtainthemodularvaluewithrespecttoothernumbersn,onecantakeweightedsums,wherethe
weightonthekthdigitcorrespondstothevalueof
modulon,oranalogouslyfor fordifferentbases.
Thisissimplestfor2,5,and10,wherehigherdigitsvanish(since2and5divide10),whichcorrespondsto
thefamiliarfactthatthedivisibilityofadecimalnumberwithrespectto2,5,and10canbecheckedbythe
lastdigit(evennumbersendin0,2,4,6,or8).
Alsoofnoteisthemodulus11:since
andthus
takingthealternatingsumofdigitsyieldsthevaluemodulo11.

Somepropertiesofdigitalroots
Thedigitalrootofanumberiszeroifandonlyifthenumberisitselfzero.

Thedigitalrootofanumberisapositiveintegerifandonlyifthenumberisitselfapositiveinteger.

Thedigitalrootofnisnitselfifandonlyifthenumberhasexactlyonedigit.

Thedigitalrootofnislessthannifandonlyifthenumberisgreaterthanorequalto10.

Thedigitalrootofa+biscongruentwiththesumofthedigitalrootofaandthedigitalrootofbmodulo9.

Thedigitalrootofabiscongruentwiththedifferenceofthedigitalrootofaandthedigitalrootofb
modulo9.

Thedigitalrootofabiscongruentwiththemultipleofthedigitalrootofaandthedigitalrootofb
modulo9.

Thedigitalrootofanonzeronumberis9ifandonlyifthenumberisitselfamultipleof9.

Thedigitalrootofanonzeronumberisamultipleof3ifandonlyifthenumberisitselfamultipleof
3.
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Thedigitalrootofafactorial6!is9.

Thedigitalrootofasquareis1,4,7,or9.Digitalrootsofsquarenumbersprogressinthesequence
1,4,9,7,7,9,4,1,9.
Thedigitalrootofaperfectcubeis1,8or9,anddigitalrootsofperfectcubesprogressinthatexact
sequence.
Thedigitalrootofaprimenumber(except3)is1,2,4,5,7,or8.
Thedigitalrootofapowerof2is1,2,4,5,7,or8.Digitalrootsofthepowersof2progressinthe
sequence1,2,4,8,7,5.Thisevenappliestonegativepowersof2forexample,2tothepowerof0
is12tothepowerof1(minusone)is.5,withadigitalrootof52tothepowerof2is.25,witha
digitalrootof7andsoon,adinfinituminbothdirections.Thisisbecausenegativepowersof2
sharethesamedigits(afterremovingleadingzeroes)ascorrespondingpositivepowersof5,whose
digitalrootsprogressinthesequence1,5,7,8,4,2.
Thedigitalrootofapowerof5is1,2,4,5,7or8.Digitalrootsofthepowersof5progressinthe
sequence1,5,7,8,4,2.Thisevenappliestonegativepowersof5forexample,5tothepowerof0
is15tothepowerof1(minusone)is.2,withadigitalrootof25tothepowerof2is.04,witha
digitalrootof4andsoon,adinfinituminbothdirections.Thisisbecausethenegativepowersof5
sharethesamedigits(afterremovingleadingzeroes)ascorrespondingpositivepowersof2,whose
digitalrootsprogressinsequence1,2,4,8,7,5.
Thedigitalrootsofpowerednumbersprogressinsequence(onlycertainforpositivepowers,
althoughinforsomeexceptionsitalsomayoccurfornegativepowers),andthisisbecauseofoneof
thepreviouslyshownproperties.Asthedigitalrootofabiscongruentwiththemultipleofthedigital
rootofaandthedigitalrootofbmodulo9,thedigitalrootofaawillalsodoit.So,forexample,as
shownabove,powersof2willfollowsthesequence1,2,4,8,7,5Powersof47(whosedigitalroot
is2)willalsofollowthissequence.Theverysequencefollowsthisrule,andisappliabletoanyothe
number.

Thedigitalrootofanevenperfectnumber(except6)is1.
Thedigitalrootofacenteredhexagram,orstarnumberis1or4.Digitalrootsofstarnumbers
progressinthesequence1,4,1.
Thedigitalrootofacenteredhexagonnumberis1or7,theirdigitalrootsprogressinginthesequence
1,7,1.
Thedigitalrootofatriangularnumberis1,3,6or9.Digitalrootsoftriangularnumbersprogressin
thesequence1,3,6,1,6,3,1,9,9,whichispalindromicafterthefirsteightterms.
ThedigitalrootofFibonaccinumbersisarepeatingpatternof1,1,2,3,5,8,4,3,7,1,8,9,8,8,7,
6,4,1,5,6,2,8,1,9.
ThedigitalrootofLucasnumbersisarepeatingpatternof2,1,3,4,7,2,9,2,2,4,6,1,7,8,6,5,2,
7,9,7,7,5,3,8.
Thedigitalrootoftheproductoftwinprimes,otherthan3and5,is8.Thedigitalrootoftheproduct
of3and5(twinprimes)is6.
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Inotherbases
Thisarticleisaboutthedigitalrootindecimalorbaseten,henceitisthenumbermod9.Itisnothing
differentasthenumberconvertedtobase9andthenonlythelastdigittaken.Inotherradixesthedigital
rootisnumbermod(base1)soinbase12adigitalrootofanumberisthenumbermod11(duod),for
example,1972duodis1+9+7+2=19=17duodwhichis1+7=8,whileindecimaltherootofthesame
number(3110)is5andinbase16adigitalrootofanumberisthenumbermod15(0xF),forexample,
0x7DFis7+13+15=35=0x23whichis2+3=5,whileindecimaltherootofthesamenumber(2015)
is8.

Seealso
Base9
Digitsum
Hammingweight
Vedicsquare

References
F.M.Hall:AnIntroductionintoAbstractAlgebra.2ndedition,CUPARchive1980,ISBN9780
521298612,p.101(onlinecopy(https://books.google.com/books?id=qqs8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA101),
p.101,atGoogleBooks)
BonnieAverbach,OrinChein:ProblemSolvingThroughRecreationalMathematics.CourierDover
Publications2000,ISBN0486409171,pp.125127(onlinecopy(https://books.google.com/books?
id=xRJxJ7L9sq8C&pg=PA125),p.125,atGoogleBooks)
TalalGhannam:TheMysteryofNumbers:RevealedThroughTheirDigitalRoot.CreateSpace
Publications2012,ISBN9781477678411,pp.6873
T.H.O'Beirne:PuzzlesandParadoxes.In:NewScientist,No.230,1961413,pp.5354(online
copy(https://books.google.com/books?id=j4VdAP43V7cC&pg=PA53),p.53,atGoogleBooks)

Externallinks
patternofdigitalrootusingMSExcel
(http://people.revoledu.com/kardi/tutorial/DigitSum/index.html)
Weisstein,EricW.,"DigitalRoot"(http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DigitalRoot.html),MathWorld.
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Digital_root&oldid=680141581"
Categories: Algebra Numbertheory
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