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Problems & Puzzles:
Puzzles
Puzzle 1262 Pilish
primes
Today is another pi-day, March 14, (3.14),
2026.
%20by%20Holly%20Rolen.jpeg)
Photo provided by my friend G. L. Honaker Jr.
Original by Holly Rolen, of "Just Pie"
Carlos Rivera has constructed this puzzle,
celebrating this popular day...
Introduction.
Have you heard about the
Pilish languaje?
In the 7th
paragraph of this
page
you may read a short introduction to
Pilish:
"...
In “Pi-lish” the number of letters in each word
match the corresponding digit of pi. This first word
has three letters, the second has one letter, the
third has four letters, and so on. This language is
more popular than you might think. Software engineer
Michael Keith wrote an entire book, called Not
a Wake in
this language."
Just in case you
need another explanation see this other page from
the BBC "How
the number pi inspired a writing style".
***
Our puzzle.
Regarding that
pi =
3.14159265358979323846264338327950...
In this puzzle we
will change the words composed by k letters, by
primes composed by k digits, where k1=3
digits, k2=1
digits, k3=4
digits, ... Moreover, we will ask
to form primes linking n prime-words, in such a way
that every new linkage forms a new prime. This is
what I will call from now on, "Pilish
primes"
The 1st valid prime-word has k1=3 digits, or any
of the following 143 primes {101, 103, 107, 109, ... 991, 997]
The 2nd valid prime-word has k2=1 digits, or any of
the following 2 primes {3, 7} The 3rd valid prime word has
k3=4 digits, or any of the
following 1061 primes {1009, 1013,
1019, ..., 9967, 9973} ... The 32nd valid prime word has
k32=5 digits, or any of the
following 8363 primes {10007, 10009. ...,
99989, 99991 }
But there is no 33nd valid prime word because in the position
33rd emerges a "zero" in pi.
According with this, here is an example of a
phrase of three words: 101 is a valid one word prime
101.3 is a valid two linked prime-words because 101
& 3 and 1013 are three primes 101.3.1019 is a
valid phrase composed by three linked prime-words because 101, 3, 1019,
1013 and 10131019 are five primes, and a total of 8
digits in the phrase 101.3.1019.
...
In
short for n primes linked you produce a total of
2*n-1 primes.
Now, because the digit "0" is
located in the 33rd position (counting the initial
digit "3" of pi) the largest prime we may form is
composed by 32 linked
distinct prime-words composed by 3, 1,
4, ...9, 5 digits, then the largest valid linked
prime-words you may form after linking these 32
prime-words has 155 digits, which is the sum of all
the pi digits before the digit "0".
Moreover, the prime
linking 32
distinct prime-words produces in total 2*32-1 =
63 primes.
I do not know
for certain if this kind of
beatiful prime-monsters exist but
I
bet that the answer is yes...
wHY?... because
the digit "1" in pi comes only two times in the first
32 digits, and these two "1" digits are at the
beginning of pi (positions 2 & 4),
fortunately not together, and I suppose that they produce the
less constriction possible in such positions... (I hope,
fingers crossed).
Enough?
The questions
Q1. Find the
smallest valid
phrase
linking 32
distinct word primes, composed of
155 digits and producing a total of 63 primes. Q2. Find the
largest valid
phrase
linking 32
distinct word primes, composed of 155
digits and producing a total of 63 primes.
or, in short:
Q1. Find the smallest
Pilish prime
of 155 digits (using only distinct primes) Q2. Find the largest
Pilish prime
of 155 digits (using only distinct primes)
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From March 14 to 20, 2026, contributioons came from Michael Branicky,
Paul Cleary, Gennady Gusev, Giorgios Kalogeropoulos, Emmanuel Vantieghem,
Ankit Chakraborty
***
Michael wrote:
Q1:
101.3.1019.7.10391.100000969.41.100207.10973.103.10259.10000687.100002509.1000423.100023221.991.53.229.10003457.1153.109169.43.100517.1453.683.787.10101167.163.23.1012159.100003157.11497
Or:
10131019710391100000969411002071097310310259100006871000025091000423100023221991532291000345711531091694310051714536837871010116716323101215910000315711497
Q2:
983.3.8831.7.99581.999999487.71.999883.99527.991.99623.99997981.999999797.9999271.999955961.691.41.499.99997691.9547.998957.73.998831.6823.263.103.99999167.463.59.9999943.999989267.97987
0r:
98338831799581999999487719998839952799199623999979819999997979999271999955961691414999999769195479989577399883168232631039999916746359999994399998926797987
Later Michael addded the following answers to two non-posed questions in
this puzzle:If one uses the convention in Mike Keith's Pilish, then 0 denotes a 10-digit
prime, and we can go as far as 37 terms with:
101.3.1019.7.10391.100000969.41.100207.10973.103.10259.10000687.100002509.1000423.100023221.991.53.229.10003457.1153.109169.43.100517.1453.683.787.10101167.163.23.1012159.100003157.11497.
1000192133.37.10000583.10005379.5147
983.3.8831.7.99581.999999487.71.999883.99527.991.99623.99997981.999999797.9999271.999955961.691.41.499.99997691.9547.998957.73.998831.6823.263.103.99999167.463.59.9999943.999989267.97987.
9999957239.37.99998417.99997441.9431
With distinct primes, you cannot go further
since the 38th digit of Pi is again 1; the 1-digit primes 3 and 7 have
already been used; and 2 and 5 would lead to non-primes.
***
Paul wrote:
Q1.
101.3.1019.7.10391.100000969.41.100207.10973.103.10259.10000687.100002509.1000423.100023221.991.53.229.10003457.1153.109169.43.100517.1579.479.271.10039409.601.89.1006153.100002233.10831
Or:
10131019710391100000969411002071097310310259100006871000025091000423100023221991532291000345711531091694310051715794792711003940960189100615310000223310831
(Not the smallest in Q1)
Q2.
983.3.8831.7.99581.999999487.71.999883.99527.991.99623.99997981.999999797.9999271.999955961.691.41.499.99997691.9547.998957.73.998831.6823.263.103.99999167.463.59.9999943.999989267.97987
Or:
98338831799581999999487719998839952799199623999979819999997979999271999955961691414999999769195479989577399883168232631039999916746359999994399998926797987
***
Gennady wrote:
Q1.
101.3.1019.7.10391.100000969.41.100207.10973.103.10259.10000687.100002509.1000423.100023221.991.53.229.10003457.1153.109169.43.100517.1453.683.787.10101167.163.23.1012159.100003157.11497
Q2. 967.7.9497.3.99721.999998459.43.998861.99559.431.99013.99998891.999997543.9999419.999988903.809.61.461.99999643.8819.977593.47.995227.9857.787.743.99944239.263.37.9994139.999997567.99761
(Not the smallest in Q2)
***
Giorgos wrote:
Q1:{101,3,1019,7,10391,100000969,41,100207,10973,103,10259,10000687,100002509,1000423,100023221,991,53,229,10003457,1153,109169,43,100517,1453,683,787,10101167,163,23,1012159,100003157,11497}
Or:
10131019710391100000969411002071097310310259100006871000025091000423100023221991532291000345711531091694310051714536837871010116716323101215910000315711497
Q2:
{983,3,8831,7,99581,999999487,71,999883,99527,991,99623,99997981,999999797,9999271,999955961,691,41,499,99997691,9547,998957,73,998831,6823,263,103,99999167,463,59,9999943,999989267,97987}
Or:
98338831799581999999487719998839952799199623999979819999997979999271999955961691414999999769195479989577399883168232631039999916746359999994399998926797987
***
Emmanuel wrote:
The smallest :
10131019710391100000969411002071097310310259100006871000025091000423100023221991532291000345711531091694310051714536837871010116716323101215910000315711497
Giving the primes : {101, 3, 1019, 7, 10391, 100000969, 41, 100207,
10973, 103, 10259, 10000687, 100002509, 1000423, 100023221, 991, 53, 229,
10003457, 1153, 109169, 43, 100517, 1453,683, 787, 10101167, 163, 23,
1012159, 100003157, 11497}
The biggest :
98338831799581999999487719998839952799199623999979819999997979999271999955961691414999999769195479989577399883168232631039999916746359999994399998926797987
Giving the primes : {983, 3, 8831, 7, 99581, 999999487, 71, 999883,
99527, 991, 99623, 99997981, 999999797, 9999271, 999955961, 691, 41, 499,
99997691, 9547, 998957, 73, 998831, 6823, 263, 103, 99999167, 463, 59,
9999943, 999989267, 97987}***
Ankit wrote:
Q1 — SMALLEST 155-digit Pilish prime Length : 155 digits Value :
101·3·1019·7·10391·100000969·41·100207·10973·103·10259·10000687·
100002509·1000423·100023221·991·53·229·10003457·1153·109169·43·100517·
1453·683·787·10101167·163·23·1012159·100003157·11497
Q2 — LARGEST 155-digit Pilish prime Length : 155 digits Value :
983·3·8831·7·99581·999999487·71·999883·99527·991·99623·99997981·
999999797·9999271·999955961·691·41·499·99997691·9547·998957·73·998831·
6823·263·103·99999167·463·59·9999943·999989267·97987
***
On March 25, five days after published the previous results, Ashaz Jameel
wrote:
Q1) 101.3.1019.7.10391.100000969.41.100207.10973.103.10259.10000687.100002509.1000423.100023221.991.53.229.10003457.1153.109169.43.100517.1453.683.787.10101167.163.23.1012159.100003157.11497.
Q2) 983.3.8831.7.99581.999999487.71.999883.99527.991.99623.99997981.999999797.9999271.999955961.691.41.499.99997691.9547.998957.73.998831.6823.263.103.99999167.463.59.9999943.999989267.97987.
***
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