For the love of numbers - D.R.Kaprekar (1)

Once upon a time (January 17, 1905 to be precise), there was born a boy named Kaprekar. He played with numbers like you and I would play solitaire in our pc. Maths was his entertainment. He went on to become a maths teacher and spread the joy and fun of playing with number to others. He was a maths teacher in the beautiful hill town called Devlali or Deolali (1929-1962). A number theory addict, he was invited in many colleges to talk about his unique methods.

He would say of himself:

A drunkard wants to go on drinking wine to remain in that pleasurable state. The same is the case with me in so far as numbers are concerned.

Well ofcourse, many Indian mathematicians laughed at his number theory ideas and called it trivial. After his retirement in 1962 he found it difficult to survive with his pension. He was forced to take maths and science tutions to make enough money.

International fame only came in 1975 when Martin Gardener wrote about Kaprekar and his numbers in his 'Mathematical Games' column in the March issue of Scientific American.

His discoveries in number theory include

• Kaprekar constant
• Kaprekar number
• Devlali or Self number
• Harshad number
• Demlo number

Let us make him our hero by entertaining ourself with these fun methods...