Square numbers in Sacred Harp song numbers

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Reading time: 14 min read

Tags: Data Shapenote

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 root Song number
6 36t
6 36b
7 49t
7 49b
8 64
9 81t
9 81b
10 100
11 121
12 144
13 169
14 196
15 225t
15 225b
17 289
18 324
19 361
20 400
21 441
22 484

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