Tuesday evening I was helping my 15-year-old pupil with her pre-algebra review. As we dryly recorded the multiples of 9, I was suddenly overcome by the resulting pattern of 9 times 4 through 9 times 7: 36455463. My student was all big eyes and confused looks as I gestured wildly and exclaimed, "Look! It’s a palindrome!" Once I copied the number and drew lines and explained the (almost) mirror image she relaxed into a smile and said, "That’s cool!"
As a palindrome fan, it is my duty to share this list. And surely you are well versed with Weird Al’s song entitle Bob whose lyrics are all palindromes. I guess I am just "a nut for a jar of tuna!"
Blimey! Nerd Alert!
i love palindromes! and i love reading about funny teaching moments like that too. and now i need to find that weird al song just because the idea of it intrigues me so much
Scott – thanks for the link. That oughta keep me busy awhile! Institute for the Study of Mustard and Palindromes. Who knew?
Em – "Bob" is, of course, a Bob Dylan parody done entirely in palindromes. It’s truly brilliant. I mean, Weird Al is undeniably a genius. Here are the lyrics, but you’ve gotta hear it to experience it.
Whoa – after reading this palindrome entry again, not only does 9 x 4 through 9 x 7 make 36 45 54 63… you can extend the pattern a couple times with 9 x 1 through 9 x 10 making the longer palindrome 09 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 90. Step back. We may be close to some "key to the secrets of the universe" kind of thing… blimey indeed!
Scott, thank you for once again expanding my peripheral vision! It’s a beautiful pattern.