What is a positive palindrome?

Answered by Jim Brock

A positive palindrome is a special kind of number that has a unique pattern. I first encountered palindromes when I was learning about numbers in school. The concept fascinated me because it seemed like a puzzle to solve. A positive palindrome is a number that reads the same from left to right as it does from right to left. This means that the leftmost digit is the same as the rightmost digit, the second digit from the left is equal to the second digit from the right, and so on. For example, the number 33 is a palindrome because it reads the same backwards.

One interesting thing about positive palindromes is that they can have an odd or even number of digits. For example, the number 142505241 has an odd number of digits, but it still follows the palindrome pattern. The leftmost digit, 1, is the same as the rightmost digit, 1. The second digit from the left, 4, is equal to the second digit from the right, 4. And so on, until we reach the middle digit, 5, which remains the same when reversed.

Another example is the number 6, which is the smallest positive palindrome. It consists of only one digit, so it doesn’t have any other digits to compare with. However, since it reads the same forwards and backwards, it still qualifies as a palindrome.

Positive palindromes can be found in various number systems, such as the decimal system (base 10) that we commonly use, as well as other number systems like binary (base 2) or hexadecimal (base 16). In each system, the rules for palindromes remain the same – the number reads the same forwards and backwards.

A positive palindrome is a number that follows a unique pattern where it reads the same forwards and backwards. It is a fascinating concept that I have come across in my studies of numbers. Whether it has an odd or even number of digits, a positive palindrome always has the same digit pattern from left to right and right to left. It’s a fun puzzle to explore and discover new palindromic numbers in different number systems.