Ed Johnson-Williams

Square numbers in Sacred Harp song numbers

Published:

Reading time: 4 min read

Tags: DataShapenote

A singer at the Sacred Harp singing in Durham yesterday was calling only square numbers.

I went and made a list of those numbers.

Square rootSong number
636t
636b
749t
749b
864
981t
981b
10100
11121
12144
13169
14196
15225t
15225b
17289
18324
19361
20400
21441
22484

And the Python code I used to find this…


import math

# All song numbers with the t (top) or b (bottom) taken off
song_numbers = [26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 197, 198, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 220, 222, 223, 224, 225, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 240, 242, 245, 250, 254, 260, 263, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 365, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 510, 511, 512, 513, 515, 516, 517, 518, 521, 522, 523, 524, 527, 528, 530, 531, 532, 534, 535, 536, 538, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 551, 553, 556, 558, 560, 562, 564, 565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573]

square_numbers = []

for number in song_numbers:

    # find the square root of the song number
    square_root = math.sqrt(number)

    # if the sqrt of the song number is an integer
    if int(square_root) == square_root:

        # add the song number to the list of square numbers
        square_numbers.append(number)

print(square_numbers)
# 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196, 225, 289, 324, 361, 400, 441, 484

# 36t, 36b, 49t, 49b, 64, 81t, 81b, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196, 225t, 225b, 289, 324, 361, 400, 441, 484