heteromecic

English

Etymology

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Adjective

heteromecic (not comparable)

1. (mathematics) Of a number which is the product of two consecutive integers.
   • 1952 [c. 100], Nicomachus of Gerasa, translated by Martin Luther D’Ooge, edited by Robert Maynard Hutchins, Mortimer J. Adler, and Wallace Brockway, Introduction to Arithmetic II (Great Books Of The Western World; 11), William Benton (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.), page 838:

     [1] Again, then, to take a fresh start, a number is called heteromecic if its representation, when graphically described in a plane, is quadrilateral and quadrangular, to be sure, but the sides are not equal to one another, nor is the length equal to the breadth, but they differ by 1. Examples are 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, and so on, for if one represents them graphically he will always construct them thus: 1 times 2 equals 2, 2 times 3 equals 6, 3 times 4 equals 12, and the succeeding ones similarly, 4 times 5, 5 times 6, 6 times 7, 7 times 8, and thus indefinitely, provided only that one side is greater than the other by 1 and by no other number.

   Twice a triangular number is a heteromecic number.

Synonyms

• pronic

Related terms

• rectangular number
• oblong number