6 ms·

Numbers API - An API for interesting facts about numbers

74 points by divad12 15y ago

divad12 15y ago
Hi, I'm the co-creator of this service. Blog post with more info: http://david-hu.com/2012/03/05/announcing-numbers-api.html http://david-hu.com/2012/03/05/announcing-numbers-api.html We welcome any feedback and are willing to answer any questions. Thanks!
- saraid216 15y ago
  Is there a way to suggest entries?
  - divad12 15y ago
    Not right now, but we're looking to possibly add this feature. For now, feel free to send any suggestions to numbersapi at google mail.
  - divad12 15y ago
    There is now: click the "+ Add a trivia fact..." on http://numbersapi.com/ http://numbersapi.com/
- yahelc 15y ago
  Minor bug with your ticker and negative numbers: http://cl.ly/3S1x1H3t1t1D22122A0z http://cl.ly/3S1x1H3t1t1D22122A0z
  - divad12 15y ago
    Thanks for pointing that out. The ticker came from some work I did while interning at Khan Academy, and was not originally meant for negative numbers. If I get some time, I may make it into a jQuery plugin and make it work for more cases and be configurable.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
michaelochurch 15y ago
We will finally be able to answer humanity's most pressing question: what is the smallest uninteresting positive integer?
- alexchamberlain 15y ago
  I hope you know the answer to this?
- yahelc 15y ago
  223. EDIT: 219 is definitely smaller than 223.
  - burgerbrain 15y ago
    219 Edit: on the other hand, in the math category "219 is the smallest number that can be represented as a sum of four positive cubes in two different ways."
  - michaelochurch 15y ago
    223 is a US date-prime. 2 and 23 is prime, and so is 223. That may be a stretch, but it qualifies as something interesting.
- rflrob 15y ago
  It's an API, so I have this code running now: for i in xrange(10000): print i trivia = requests.get('http://numbersapi.com/%d' % i).text math = requests.get('http://numbersapi.com/%d/math' % i).text if 'boring' in math and ('plain' in trivia or 'boring' in trivia): print math, trivia break time.sleep(2)
- drostie 15y ago
  http://numbersapi.com/1321/trivia http://numbersapi.com/1321/trivia has given me both "1321 is a most unremarkable number" and "1321 is an uninteresting number", to give an upper bound. ;-)
- vyrotek 15y ago
petercooper 15y ago
Similar - The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences: https://oeis.org/ https://oeis.org/
gmaster1440 15y ago
http://numbersapi.com/#1337 http://numbersapi.com/#1337 :(
- divad12 15y ago
  Oops, terrible oversight. Fixed now - http://numbersapi.com/#1337 http://numbersapi.com/#1337 :) Feel free to send entry suggestions to numbersapi at google mail. We may add a feature for this soon.
jastanton 15y ago
420, 666, and 777
adharmad 15y ago
http://numbersapi.com/1729/math http://numbersapi.com/1729/math "1729 is a plain old number." Can't recognize Hardy-Ramanujan number? Also the smallest perfect number: http://numbersapi.com/6/math http://numbersapi.com/6/math "6 is the smallest number of distinct isosceles right triangles that will tile an isosceles right triangle."
- theFco 15y ago
  perhaps it is a pun on Hardy, who thought it was an uninteresting number?
- spicyj 15y ago
  See http://numbersapi.com/1729 http://numbersapi.com/1729: > 1729 is the smallest number representable in two different ways as a sum of two positive cubes, as Ramanujan stated on the spot.
- divad12 15y ago
  Ha, good catch. http://numbersapi.com/1729 http://numbersapi.com/1729 (the trivia version) gives the Ramanujan fact, while we have multiple math facts for 6 (refresh a few times to get "smallest perfect number"). We're still working to build our database of facts. Feel free to send suggestions to numbersapi at google mail, and we may add a feature for user-submitted facts.
- Scriptor 15y ago
  It looks like they've fixed the one for 1729.
searke 15y ago
You can get a lot of number facts using Wolfram|Alpha and its API http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1729 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1729
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- divad12 15y ago
  Wolfram Alpha is great for mathematical properties of numbers, while we have trivia facts and are looking to gather more (eg. from world records, numbers in nature, statistics, almanacs, news).
gburt 15y ago
Why?
freditup 15y ago
Don't forget a crossdomain.xml file!
adrianp 15y ago
6174 is Kaprekar's constant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprekar_constant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprekar_constant

74 points by divad12 15y ago

Hi, I'm the co-creator of this service. Blog post with more info: http://david-hu.com/2012/03/05/announcing-numbers-api.html http://david-hu.com/2012/03/05/announcing-numbers-api.html We welcome any feedback and are willing to answer any questions. Thanks!

saraid216 15y ago
Is there a way to suggest entries?
- divad12 15y ago
  Not right now, but we're looking to possibly add this feature. For now, feel free to send any suggestions to numbersapi at google mail.
- divad12 15y ago
  There is now: click the "+ Add a trivia fact..." on http://numbersapi.com/ http://numbersapi.com/
yahelc 15y ago
Minor bug with your ticker and negative numbers: http://cl.ly/3S1x1H3t1t1D22122A0z http://cl.ly/3S1x1H3t1t1D22122A0z
- divad12 15y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out. The ticker came from some work I did while interning at Khan Academy, and was not originally meant for negative numbers. If I get some time, I may make it into a jQuery plugin and make it work for more cases and be configurable.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

michaelochurch 15y ago

We will finally be able to answer humanity's most pressing question: what is the smallest uninteresting positive integer?

alexchamberlain 15y ago
I hope you know the answer to this?
yahelc 15y ago
223. EDIT: 219 is definitely smaller than 223.
- burgerbrain 15y ago
  219 Edit: on the other hand, in the math category "219 is the smallest number that can be represented as a sum of four positive cubes in two different ways."
- michaelochurch 15y ago
  223 is a US date-prime. 2 and 23 is prime, and so is 223. That may be a stretch, but it qualifies as something interesting.
rflrob 15y ago
It's an API, so I have this code running now: for i in xrange(10000): print i trivia = requests.get('http://numbersapi.com/%d' % i).text math = requests.get('http://numbersapi.com/%d/math' % i).text if 'boring' in math and ('plain' in trivia or 'boring' in trivia): print math, trivia break time.sleep(2)
drostie 15y ago
http://numbersapi.com/1321/trivia http://numbersapi.com/1321/trivia has given me both "1321 is a most unremarkable number" and "1321 is an uninteresting number", to give an upper bound. ;-)
vyrotek 15y ago

petercooper 15y ago

Similar - The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences: https://oeis.org/ https://oeis.org/

gmaster1440 15y ago

http://numbersapi.com/#1337 http://numbersapi.com/#1337 :(

divad12 15y ago
Oops, terrible oversight. Fixed now - http://numbersapi.com/#1337 http://numbersapi.com/#1337 :) Feel free to send entry suggestions to numbersapi at google mail. We may add a feature for this soon.

jastanton 15y ago

420, 666, and 777

adharmad 15y ago

http://numbersapi.com/1729/math http://numbersapi.com/1729/math "1729 is a plain old number." Can't recognize Hardy-Ramanujan number? Also the smallest perfect number: http://numbersapi.com/6/math http://numbersapi.com/6/math "6 is the smallest number of distinct isosceles right triangles that will tile an isosceles right triangle."

theFco 15y ago
perhaps it is a pun on Hardy, who thought it was an uninteresting number?
spicyj 15y ago
See http://numbersapi.com/1729 http://numbersapi.com/1729: > 1729 is the smallest number representable in two different ways as a sum of two positive cubes, as Ramanujan stated on the spot.
divad12 15y ago
Ha, good catch. http://numbersapi.com/1729 http://numbersapi.com/1729 (the trivia version) gives the Ramanujan fact, while we have multiple math facts for 6 (refresh a few times to get "smallest perfect number"). We're still working to build our database of facts. Feel free to send suggestions to numbersapi at google mail, and we may add a feature for user-submitted facts.
Scriptor 15y ago
It looks like they've fixed the one for 1729.

searke 15y ago

You can get a lot of number facts using Wolfram|Alpha and its API http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1729 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1729

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
divad12 15y ago
Wolfram Alpha is great for mathematical properties of numbers, while we have trivia facts and are looking to gather more (eg. from world records, numbers in nature, statistics, almanacs, news).

gburt 15y ago

Why?

freditup 15y ago

Don't forget a crossdomain.xml file!

adrianp 15y ago

6174 is Kaprekar's constant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprekar_constant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprekar_constant