Road, Numbers and Silly Games.

I have this habit of observing number plates of the vehicles as I drive. This gives me an illusion of doing an intelligent thing. I'll tell you how. As I look at the four digit numbers I do a calculation which can be presented in a statement. E.g. I see this scooter going in front of me. The number is, say, CH01 A 3321. My mind changes gear. "The sum of extreme two terms and the sum of middle two terms are consecutive numbers." :-)

Extreme two terms 3 & 1. 3+1=4
Middle two terms 3&2. 3+2=5

4 & 5 are consecutive numbers.

Another example. The number is PB10 C 6537.

The statements (in fact more then one statements!):

1. The difference between alternate digits are consecutive numbers (6-3 = 3, 7-5=2)
2. The difference between extreme two terms and middle two terms are consecutive numbers (7-6=1, 5-3=2)

Can I indulge and give one more? (I choose these numbers randomly)
UP80 AB 5845

The statements:

1. The difference between first two terms and the second two terms are consecutive odd numbers
2. The sum of extreme two terms and middle two terms are consecutive even numbers.
3. The sum of alternate terms are alternate odd numbers.

Well, isn't this is a classic example of bending facts to fit in your frame of interpretation? Some poststructuralist and the nihilists would find vindication here. Nietzsche is said to have made that amazing statement "There are no facts only interpretations."

But obviously there are problems. You can't play it to your advantage all the time. What do I do with a number like CH03 A 0025?

Easy way out: "The product of extreme two terms and middle two terms is same"
0x5 = 0x2 = 0
But that's not exciting. Even in a silly game like this this is unacceptable. Sheer escapism.

More circumventing statement.

• The sums of alternate terms are alternate prime numbers!

Well this was manageable too!

Ok let me think of another number.

HP02 A 8830

I am sure I can make some intelligent statement out of this too. But then I reach my destination. And in any case, if I overdo this, it will become boring and perhaps I would not want to be on the roads ever again!

I would like to post a number I could not make a statement out of.

Oh! by the way, this game has a rule. Arbitrary of course. You have to take numbers in pairs.

I wonder if this is sign of a pathological, prodigious or just a puffed up mind!

Anyway for the last number the statement is - "The quotient of first two digits and sum of second two digits make consecutive odd numbers."