Lychrel numbers are certain natural numbers that resist palindrome formation by a particular algorithm, the 196 algorithm.
The name Lychrel comes from Wade VanLandingham and has no special meaning except that before these numbers were named, Google did not return a search result for Lychrel and it was not listed in any dictionary, plus it is an approximate anagram to the name of VanLandingham’s girlfriend (“Cheryl”).
Any natural number that does not result in a number palindrome through a finite number of inversions and additions is called a Lychrel number.
An inversion here is the formation of the mirror-inverted number. If the addition leads to a number palindrome, the algorithm is finished. If not, this process is carried out by renewed inversion and addition until the result is a palindrome.
The Lychrel numbers resist this algorithm, which means that – even after an infinite number of iteration steps – no palindrome is created.
At the moment, no mathematical procedure exists to determine with certainty whether a number is a Lychrel number, so that until today it is not even certain whether they exist at all.
Candidates
- 196, 295, 394, 493, 592, 689, 691, 788, 790, 879, 887, 978, 986
- 1495, 1497, 1585, 1587, 1675, 1677, 1765, 1767, 1855, 1857, 1945, 1947, 1997
- 2494, 2496, 2584, 2586, 2674, 2676, 2764, 2766, 2854, 2856, 2944, 2946, 2996
- 3493, 3495, 3583, 3585, 3673, 3675, 3763, 3765, 3853, 3855, 3943, 3945, 3995
- 4079, 4169, 4259, 4349, 4439, 4492, 4494, 4529, 4582, 4584, 4619, 4672, 4674, 4709, 4762, 4764, 4799, 4852, 4854, 4889, 4942, 4944, 4979, 4994
- 5078, 5168, 5258, 5348, 5438, 5491, 5493, 5528, 5581, 5583, 5618, 5671, 5673, 5708, 5761, 5763, 5798, 5851, 5853, 5888, 5941, 5943, 5978, 5993
- 6077, 6167, 6257, 6347, 6437, 6490, 6492, 6527, 6580, 6582, 6617, 6670, 6672, 6707, 6760, 6762, 6797, 6850, 6852, 6887, 6940, 6942, 6977, 6992
- 7059, 7076, 7149, 7166, 7239, 7256, 7329, 7346, 7419, 7436, 7491, 7509, 7526, 7581, 7599, 7616, 7671, 7689, 7706, 7761, 7779, 7796, 7851, 7869, 7886, 7941, 7959, 7976, 7991
- 8058, 8075, 8079, 8089, 8148, 8165, 8169, 8179, 8238, 8255, 8259, 8269, 8328, 8345, 8349, 8359, 8418, 8435, 8439, 8449, 8490, 8508, 8525, 8529, 8539, 8580, 8598, 8615, 8619, 8629, 8670, 8688, 8705, 8709, 8719, 8760, 8778, 8795, 8799, 8809, 8850, 8868, 8885, 8889, 8899, 8940, 8958, 8975, 8979, 8989, 8990
- 9057, 9074, 9078, 9088, 9147, 9164, 9168, 9178, 9237, 9254, 9258, 9268, 9327, 9344, 9348, 9358, 9417, 9434, 9438, 9448, 9507, 9524, 9528, 9538, 9597, 9614, 9618, 9628, 9687, 9704, 9708, 9718, 9777, 9794, 9798, 9808, 9867, 9884, 9888, 9898, 9957, 9974, 9978, 9988, 9999