In number theory, a polite number is a positive integer that can be written as the sum of two or more consecutive positive integers. Other positive integers are impolite. Polite numbers have also been called staircase numbers because the Young diagrams representing graphically the partitions of a polite number into consecutive integers (in the French style of drawing these diagrams) resemble staircases. If all numbers in the sum are strictly greater than one, the numbers so formed are also called trapezoidal numbers because they represent patterns of points arranged in a trapezoid.
The problem of representing numbers as sums of consecutive integers and of counting the number of representations of this type has been studied by Sylvester, Mason, and Leveque, as well as by many other more recent authors.
Read more about Polite Number: Examples and Characterization, Politeness, Construction of Polite Representations From Odd Divisors, Trapezoidal Numbers
Famous quotes containing the words polite and/or number:
“Genteel women suppose that those things do not really exist about which it is impossible to talk in polite company.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“I happen to feel that the degree of a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.”
—Lisa Alther (b. 1944)