Subject: palindromes
Name: liz
Who are you: Parent (Elementary)

What is the least three-digit palindrome that is a square number?

please help. did not even know what palindrome numbers were till now.

 


Hi Liz.

A palindrome is something that reads the same backwards as forwards. For example, the word "civic" written backwards is still "civic". The phrase "A man, a plan, a canal. Panama." has the same symmetry of letters. You can also use other kinds of symmetries, such as sounds ("cheap peach") or, in your case, numbers.

Palindromic numbers are simply numbers whose digits are the same forwards as backwards. For example, 454 is a palindrome, as is 123321 or even just 7.

The least palindrome number is of course 0. That's also a square number (0 times 0). What is the lowest three-digit square number? What is the lowest three-digit square number that reads the same forwards as backwards? I don't think 000 counts - the first digit must be non-zero in order to qualify as a three-digit number.

Stephen La Rocque.>