John,
Always good to hear from you. I'm sorry to ruin
a good story, and I doubt if it'll make it into OEIS
(but I send it to them, just in case) but the answer
is probably pretty prosaic, and completely known only
to the long-gone printers and binders of Academic
Press in 1969.
For 0 < n < 10, n+ appears on page 32n-43
n* ,, ,, 32n-35
except that 1+ doesn't appear page -11 = i (the
flyleaf). Note that page -3 = ix. The pattern
continues through 10 & 11, except that 10 appears
only once, without star or plus.
Incidentally, my copy was the complementary copy
sent by Mordell to Davenport, which I obtained
at DPMMS in Cambridge because Davenport had
recently departed. I used to tease Mordell,
because, when I was in Haifa in 1970, a suitcase
was stolen from our Volkswagen van during a
period of bombings. The suspicious suitcase
was found in some bushes by the bomb squad.
The only thing missing was a silk shirt that
Louise had made for me. Mordell's book was
still there, obviously of little value.
Best to all, R.
On Wed, 22 Aug 2007, jdb(a)math.arizona.edu wrote:
> Dear Richard,
> I wonder if you know about the mysterious markings at the bottom of certain
> pages of Mordell's Diophantine Equations book. If one (or more) looks (look)
> on pages 29, 53, 61, 85, 93, 117, etc.., one (etc.) sees mysterious numbers
> like 5^+ or 3^* and one (etc.) wonders what in the damn hell they mean,
> i.e., some of us.
>
> Since they increase as the book proceeds, it may be realted somehow to
> printing. Andrew Bremner thinks they may be a rock climbing code, but is
> unwilling to die for this idea. To be sure, Mordell was a rock climber.
>
> Do you know right of if this was a mysterious message to readers in the
> know?
>
> Best,
> John
