1SPECIAL NUMBERS: TRIANGULAR, OBLONG, PERFECT, DEFICIENT, AND ABUNDANT
We start our introduction to number theory with definitions, properties, and relationships of several categories of numbers.
TRIANGULAR NUMBERS
Triangular numbers are those that can be written as the sum of a consecutive series of (whole) numbers beginning with 1. Thus 6 is triangular because it is the sum of the first three numbers: 6 = 1 + 2 + 3. The first few triangular numbers are 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, and 55. We denote the nth triangular number by tn. Thus t5 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15. More generally,
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