Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.

'Code to Zero' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/

Show menu


Find all the 3 digit numbers such that by adding the first digit, the square of the second digit and the cube of the third digit you get the original number, for example $1 + 3^2 + 5^3 = 135$. Can you find ways of reducing the search so that you do not need to test 900 cases?

[This problem appears in Ken Follett's spy thriller of the same name].