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:\operatorname{Ta}(1) = 2 = 1^3 + 1^3

:\begin{matrix}\operatorname{Ta}(2)&=&1729&=&1^3 + 12^3 \&&&=&9^3 + 10^3\end{matrix}

:\begin{matrix}\operatorname{Ta}(3)&=&87539319&=&167^3 + 436^3 \&&&=&228^3 + 423^3 \&&&=&255^3 + 414^3\end{matrix}

:\begin{matrix}\operatorname{Ta}(4)&=&6963472309248&=&2421^3 + 19083^3 \&&&=&5436^3 + 18948^3 \&&&=&10200^3 + 18072^3 \&&&=&13322^3 + 16630^3\end{matrix}

:\begin{matrix}\operatorname{Ta}(5)&=&48988659276962496&=&38787^3 + 365757^3 \&&&=&107839^3 + 362753^3 \&&&=&205292^3 + 342952^3 \&&&=&221424^3 + 336588^3 \&&&=&231518^3 + 331954^3\end{matrix}

Ta(2), also known as the Hardy-Ramanujan Number , was first published by Bernard Frénicle De Bessy in 1657 and later immortalized by an incident involving Mathematician s G. H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan . As told by Hardy {Link without Title} :

:''I remember once going to see him when he was lying ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi-cab No. 1729 , and remarked that the number seemed to be rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavourable omen. "No", he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two {Link without Title} cubes in two different ways.

The subsequent taxicab numbers were found with the help of Computer s; John Leech obtained Ta(3) in 1957 , E. Rosenstiel , J. A. Dardis and C. R. Rosenstiel found Ta(4) in 1991 , and David W. Wilson found Ta(5) in November 1997 .

Ta(6) has not been found so far; however, Wilson found a 6-way sum showing that the 6th taxicab number Ta(6) ≤ 8230545258248091551205888. In 1998, Daniel J. Bernstein showed that a lower bound was Ta(6)≥391909274215699968. In 2002, Randall L. Rathbun improved the upper bound to Ta(6) ≤ 24153319581254312065344. More recently, in May 2003 , Stuart Gascoigne verified that Ta(6) > 68000000000000000000. Cristian S. Calude , Elena Calude and Michael J. Dinneen have shown that with a high "probability" (> 99%), Ta(6) = 24153319581254312065344. course this "probability" is merely evidential: the real probability is either 1 or 0, but as yet unknown

:Ta(6) ≤ 24153319581254312065344 = 2890620633 + 58216233
::= 2889480333 + 306417333
::= 2865748733 + 851928133
::= 2709320833 + 1621806833
::= 2659045233 + 1749249633
::= 2622436633 + 1828992233.


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REFERENCES

  • G. H. Hardy and E. M. Wright, ''An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers'', 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, London & NY, 1954, Thm. 412.

  • J. Leech, ''Some Solutions of Diophantine Equations'', Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. 53, 778-780, 1957.

  • E. Rosenstiel, J. A. Dardis and C. R. Rosenstiel, ''The four least solutions in distinct positive integers of the Diophantine equation s = x3 + y3 = z3 + w3 = u3 + v3 = m3 + n3'', Bull. Inst. Math. Appl., 27(1991) 155-157; MR 92i:11134, online . See also ''Numbers Count'' Personal Computer World November 1989.

  • David W. Wilson, ''The Fifth Taxicab Number is 48988659276962496'', Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 2 (1999), online .

  • D. J. Bernstein, ''Enumerating solutions to p(a) + q(b) = r(c) + s(d)'', Mathematics of Computation 70, 233 (2000), 389--394.

  • C. S. Calude, E. Calude and M. J. Dinneen: ''What is the value of Taxicab(6)?'', Journal of Universal Computer Science, Vol. 9 (2003), p. 1196-1203