Divisor 13879
- Prime Number:
- Yes!
- Divisibility test:
- The "Tristan Pye Test"
- Test Discovered by:
- Matt Parker
- Date:
- 11/11/2024
The "Tristan Pye Test" for Divisibility by 13879
To determine if any number is divisible by 13879, apply the "Tristan Pye Test":
- If your number ("X") has 11 digits or more, separate the last (smallest) 10 digits from the rest. This makes two smaller numbers, call them Left and Right (note: don't add in trailing zeros to L). If there are fewer than 11 digits, L = 0 and therefore R = X.
- Multiply L by 73 and add to R.
- Take that result and cross off its final digit (units). Take this new number and add 1388 times the digit you just crossed off. Call this final result "Y".
- Y will be much smaller than X, but we have preserved divisibility by 13879. That is, your original number is divisible by 13879 if (and only if) Y is. Now that it's much smaller, with basic knowledge of your 13879-times tables, it should be easy to visually see if Y is divisible by 13879. If the Y is still much larger than 13879, the above process can be repeated until it does reduce to within small multiples of 13879.
Easy!