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“My problem is
that I have been persecuted by an
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integer. For
seven years this number has followed
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me around, has
intruded in my most private data,
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and has
assaulted me from the pages of our most
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public
journals. This number assumes a variety of
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disguises,
being sometimes a little larger and
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sometimes a
little smaller than usual, but never
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changing so
much as to be unrecognizable. The
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persistence
with which this number plagues me is
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far more than
a random accident. There is, to quote
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a famous
senator, a design behind it, some pattern
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governing its
appearances. Either there really is
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something
unusual about the number or else I am
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suffering from delusions
of persecution.”
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