August 25, 2009

taxicab numbers (math)

I had ridden in taxi-cab No. 1729, and remarked that the number seemed to be rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavourable omen.

"No", he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two [positive] cubes in two different ways."

$\operatorname{Ta}(1) = 2 = 1^3 + 1^3$

$\begin{matrix}\operatorname{Ta}(2)&=&1729&=&1^3 + 12^3 \\&&&=&9^3 + 10^3\end{matrix}$

$\begin{matrix}\operatorname{Ta}(3)&=&87539319&=&167^3 + 436^3 \\&&&=&228^3 + 423^3 \\&&&=&255^3 + 414^3\end{matrix}$

In mathematics, the n-th cabtaxi number, typically denoted Cabtaxi(n), is defined as the smallest positive integer that can be written as the sum of two positive or negative or 0 cubes in n ways. Such numbers exist for all n (since taxicab numbers exist for all n); however, only 10 are known (sequence A047696 in OEIS):

$\begin{matrix}\mathrm{Cabtaxi}(1)&=&1&=&1^3 \pm 0^3\end{matrix}$

$\begin{matrix}\mathrm{Cabtaxi}(2)&=&91&=&3^3 + 4^3 \\&&&=&6^3 - 5^3\end{matrix}$

$\begin{matrix}\mathrm{Cabtaxi}(3)&=&728&=&6^3 + 8^3 \\&&&=&9^3 - 1^3 \\&&&=&12^3 - 10^3\end{matrix}$

$\begin{matrix}\mathrm{Cabtaxi}(4)&=&2741256&=&108^3 + 114^3 \\&&&=&140^3 - 14^3 \\&&&=&168^3 - 126^3 \\&&&=&207^3 - 183^3\end{matrix}$

$\begin{matrix}\operatorname{Ta}(4)&=&6963472309248&=&2421^3 + 19083^3 \\&&&=&5436^3 + 18948^3 \\&&&=&10200^3 + 18072^3 \\&&&=&13322^3 + 16630^3\end{matrix}$