Monday Maths Madness 9

I don't have any pictures this week, so I thought I would share some interesting (well I think so anyway!) facts about a number everyone knows: 666.

The number 666 is probably most commonly known as the Number of the Beast, from the biblical book of Revelation. However, it also has some interesting mathematical properties. First of all, 666 is equal to the sum of the squares of the first seven primes (seven being considered a magic number, as an extra little fact). In other words:

666 = 2² + 3² + 5² + 7² + 11² + 13² + 17²

As well as this cool coincidence, 666 is the sum of palindromic (meaning it reads the same backwards as it does forwards) cubes.

666 = 1³ + 2³ + 3³ + 4³ + 5³ + 6³ + 5³ + 4³ + 3³ + 2³ + 1³

And just to add to the weirdness, the 6³ in the centre is shorthand for 6 x 6 x 6.

So, is 666 the Number of the Beast, or the Number of the Numerologist?