Steven Paul “Steve” Jobs, born Feb. 24, 1955 and died Oct. 5, 2011 at age 56, was a computer entrepreneur and inventor. He founded Apple Inc. with two of his colleagues in 1976 and his inventions had a significant impact on the technological environment that surrounds us today. Feb. 24, 2016 marks Steve’s 61st birthday and I constructed the following numerical brainteasers in his memory:

1. If Steve’s 61st birthday, expressed as 2-24-2016, or simply as 2242016 is split into 224 and 2016, 2016 divided by the sum of its digits yields 224.
2. Also, the rightmost two digits of 2016, namely 16, coincide with the reverse of 61, Steve’s new age.
3. Additionally, Steve was born on the 55th day of 1955. Where the sum of the prime factors of 55, which are 5 and 11, equals 16, the reverse of which is again 61 (Steve’s new age).
4. Moreover, Steve’s new age, 61, equals the sum of the squares of 5 and 6, which side-by-side make 56, the age at which Steve died.
5. Further, the prime factors of the reverse of 56, namely 65, are 5 and 13, which add up to 18. Interestingly enough, the 18th prime number is 61, Steve’s new age.
6. Steve died in 2011, which is the 305th prime number, where 305 equal 61 times the difference of the digits of 61.
7. The prime factors of the reverse of 2011, namely 1102, are 2, 19 and 29, and their sum is 50. Interestingly enough, if numbers 1 to 26 are assigned to the letters of the English alphabet (A as 1, B as 2, C as 3, etc.), the sum of the numbers assigned to the letters of Steve’s middle name Paul also equals 50. In addition, the numbers assigned to the letters of Apple add up to 50 too.
8. This year (2016), Steve’s birth date Feb. 24 (224) and the anniversary of his death Oct. 5 (1005) are apart by 224 days, and this will always be true in each leap year.
9. Steve died on 10-05-2011. If this date is split into 10, 05, 20 and 11, these numbers add up to 46. Coincidentally, the sum of the numbers assigned to the letters of Jobs is also 46.
10. Lastly, the sum of the digits of Steve’s 61st birthday (written as 2-24-2016) equals 17, and the reverse of 17, namely 71, coincides with the sum of the numbers assigned to the letters of Steve.

Happy 61st birthday to Steve Jobs!

– Aziz Inan, ’83

Contact Aziz Inan at ainan ‘at’ up.edu