The Power of Nine

As far back as I can remember, my favorite number has always been the number 9.  There's something about it that is so complete, self-contained and satisfying.  The number nine always looks like it's smiling - you can't be in a bad mood when you're looking at a number nine.

1's were always so plain and uninteresting.  2's resembled a question mark and looked confused.  3's looked like they were running away from something.  4's seemed dour and humorless.  5's were always smiling, but more like the crazy people on the bus who talk to themselves and laugh at their own jokes.  6's looked apprehensive and fearful.  7's looked stern and unforgiving.  8's appeared smug and self-satisfied.  But with 9's, the best was saved for last, and it was always a great way to end a counting lesson.

But wait, there's a lot more to nines.  Nine is ten minus one-tenth of ten:

9 = 10 - (0.1 x 10) = 10 - 1 = 9

This little numeric twist gives nine all sorts of mathematical powers.  For instance,

One ninth = 1 / 9 = 0.111111....
Two ninths = 2 / 9 = 0.222222...
Three ninths = 3 / 9 = 1 / 3 = 0.3333333....
Four ninths = 4 / 9 = 0.4444444....

and so on.  Also, if you add the digits of multiples of 9, they will add up to nine.  As in:

9 x 1 = 09 ...  0 + 9 = 9
9 x 2 = 18 ...  1 + 8 = 9
9 x 3 = 27 ...  2 + 7 = 9
9 x 4 = 36 ...  3 + 6 = 9
9 x 5 = 45 ...  4 + 5 = 9

From this point, the digits in the product reverse themselves:

9 x 6 = 54 ...  5 + 4 = 9
9 x 7 = 63 ...  6 + 3 = 9
9 x 8 = 72 ...  7 + 2 = 9
9 x 9 = 81 ...  8 + 1 = 9
9 x 10 = 90 ...  9 + 0 = 9

The cautious reader will note that the left digits count up from 0 to 9, while the right digits count down from 9 to 0.

Things even go further, if you skip the strange anomaly of eleven:

9 x 11 = 99 ...  9 + 9 = 18 (wtf?)
9 x 12 = 108 ... 1 + 0 + 8 = 9
9 x 13 = 117 ... 1 + 1 + 7 = 9
9 x 14 = 126 ... 1 + 2 + 6 = 9 ....

Eleven is kind of a mirror-image, bizarro-world version of nine.  It's like the antimatter version of nine.  All manner of ungodliness ensues when you divide by 11:

1 / 11 = 0.09090909...
2 / 11 = 0.18181818...
3 / 11 = 0.27272727...
4 / 11 = 0.36363636...
All the way up to:
10 / 11 = 0.90909090...

If that stuff doesn't give you a headache, nothing will.

Right after the start of the new year, another indication of how awesome nine is came to the rabbit rescue in a litter of NINE baby bunnies!  Just feast your eyes on these pictures, and tell me nine is not an amazing, awesome number!