Ten or so years later, when I was a college freshman, I would learn that I had stumbled upon an instance of what is called an abundant number, a phenomenon first studied by the ancient Greeks. An abundant number is smaller than the sum of its divisors: in my case, the sum of one, two, three, four, and six (twelve's divisors) is sixteen. That morning with my dad, I didn't have a name for this phenomenon, but I was happy nonetheless, and maybe even happier because I was ignorant of the larger picture. It was my own surprising little discovery, born of walking and puzzling. Magic all around ...
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My dad, a mathematical physicist, a man with an active mind, but one of few words, was a gentle guide, letting me think through things on my own. We took our time walking, and we also took our time thinking and talking about the basic properties of numbers. In my head, it was easy to cut the pie ...
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