Title:  Palindromes, Lychrel Numbers, and the 196-Conjecture

Abstract:  A palindrome is any number that is the same when written backwards such as 123321 or 595. In this talk we’ll examine the reversal-addition algorithm for producing palindromes and discuss whether any natural number will produce a palindrome under the reversal-addition algorithm. In particular we will talk about the 196-Conjecture which is that 196 will never produce a palindrome under the reversal-addition algorithm. Finally we will look at a couple of ways to modify the reversal-addition algorithm to (possibly) make it so that any natural number will produce a palindrome