wendiwho's Journal

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by wendiwho

2007-02-08 22:16:44.782599

I just looked at the amazon.com UK web site and noticed that they have two versions of the newest Harry Potter up for pre-order: a children's edition and an adult edition. Anyone know what the difference is?

Curiously, there is only one version for pre-order in the US.

more about the weather by wendiwho

2007-01-17 19:26:03.368689

Here is an amazing (and scary) video from yesterday's storm in Portland. Not a good day to be on the road...

sliding cars

I think you need windows media player to see it.

more snow by wendiwho

2007-01-11 17:14:46.753708

As promised, here's a picture from the office doorway showing a bit more snow. Here in Corvallis we awoke to a couple of inches--just enought to make it pretty--and not so much that we will be particularly inconvenienced. All of it will probably be gone in a day or so.

a bit of snow by wendiwho

2007-01-10 20:14:05.153777

I've heard that Barcelona is enjoying a very warm winter. Corvallis, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying a variety of weather--wind, rain, and today, a touch of snow.

Here's an early picture. I'll add some if the snow increases.

what is special about 6174? by wendiwho

2007-01-08 22:05:37.767699

Yesterday, my son sent me a link to the Mysterious 6174. What's so mysterious? It turns out that 6174 is always the result of Kaprekar's operation. Say what? (That was my reaction...) Read the link for a complete explanation, or see below for an example of Kaprekar's operation in action.

Choose a four digit number where all the digits are NOT the same (i.e., NOT 1111, 2222, etc.) Rearrange the digits to get the largest and smallest numbers those digits can make, then subtract the smallest number from the largest to get a new number. Perform the same operation on the resulting number, and continue. Eventually, you will end up with 6174. At which point, if you continue the operation, you'll continue to get 6174 for the answer.

Here's an example, using 2007 as the starting point:

largest .... 7200 ... 7731 ... 6543 ... 8730 ... 8532 ... 7641
smallest... 0027 ... 1377 ... 3456 ... 0378 ... 2358 ... 1467
------------------------------------------------------------------
result ...... 7173 ... 6354 ... 3087 ... 8352 ... 6174!... 6174 (again!)

How's that for something to wow 'em at a party. (Um, guess it depends what circles you run in...)