Friday, January 19, 2018 marks the 98th anniversary of the birth of Donald Pearce Shiley (pictured at left with his wife, regent Darlene Shiley), namesake and benefactor of the Shiley School of Engineering. Donald Shiley was a 1951 University of Portland alumnus who studied mechanical engineering. In his honor, Aziz Inan, engineering, has prepared the following mathematical curiosities to celebrate Shiley’s life and to express appreciation for his generosity:
- If Mr. Shiley’s 98th birthday expressed as 1/19/18 is split as 1, 19, and 18, 1 and 19 differ by 18.
- Furthermore, Mr. Shiley’s full name Donald Pearce Shiley contains 18 letters.
- Also, if numbers 1 to 26 are assigned to the letters of the English alphabet, the sum of the numbers assigned to Shiley equals 78 and the prime factors of 78, namely 2, 3, and 13, add up to 18 too.
- Shiley’s 98th birthday would have been the first day of the 99th year of his life where the sum of the digits of 99 also gives 18. Additionally, the product of the digits of 99 equals 81, which is the reverse of 18.
- The product of the digits of 98 equals 72 which is 4 times 18 where 4 plus 18 equals the sum of the digits of Mr. Shiley’s 98th birthday, 1/19/2018. Further, 72 equals the product of the digits of 1/19/18.
- If Mr. Shiley’s 98th birthday 1/19/2018 is split as 119, 20, and 18, the difference between 119 and the sum of 20 and 18 equals 81, which is again the reverse of 18.
- Moreover, if 1/19/2018 is split into 1, 19, 20, and 18, the sum of these numbers equals 58 where the sum of the squares of the digits of 58 is 89 and the reverse of 89 gives 98.
- The sum of the numbers assigned to the letters of Donald Pearce equals 98 too.
- Shiley’s birth date January 19 expressed as 119 equals 7 times 17 where 7 plus 17 equals 24 and the 24th prime number is 89, again, the reverse being 98.
- Lastly, the reverse of 119, namely 911, is the 156th prime number where half of 156 equals twice 78 (Shiley).
For more information contact Inan at ainan@up.edu.