(The square has this magic constant because 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666, and 666 / 6 = 111).[b]
On the other hand, 111 lies between 110 and 112, which are the two smallest edge-lengths of squares that are tiled in the interior by smaller squares of distinct edge-lengths (see, squaring the square).[7]
Properties in certain radices
111 is or the second repunit in decimal,[8] a number like 11, 111, or 1111 that consists of repeated units, or ones. 111 equals 3 × 37, therefore all triplets (numbers like 222 or 777) in base ten are repdigits of the form . As a repunit, it also follows that 111 is a palindromic number. All triplets in all bases are multiples of 111 in that base, therefore the number represented by 111 in a particular base is the only triplet that can ever be prime. 111 is not prime in decimal, but is prime in base two, where 1112 = 710. It is also prime in many other bases up to 128 (3, 5, 6, ..., 119) (sequence A002384 in the OEIS). In base 10, it is furthermore a strobogrammatic number,[9] as well as a Harshad number.[10]
In base 18, the number 111 is 73 (= 34310) which is the only base where 111 is a perfect power.
In cricket, the number 111 is sometimes called "a Nelson" after Admiral Nelson, who allegedly only had "One Eye, One Arm, One Leg" near the end of his life. This is in fact inaccurate—Nelson never lost a leg. Alternate meanings include "One Eye, One Arm, One Ambition" and "One Eye, One Arm, One Arsehole".
Particularly in cricket, multiples of 111 are called a double Nelson (222), triple Nelson (333), quadruple Nelson (444; also known as a salamander) and so on.
A score of 111 is considered by some to be unlucky. To combat the supposed bad luck, some watching lift their feet off the ground. Since an umpire cannot sit down and raise his feet, the international umpire David Shepherd had a whole retinue of peculiar mannerisms if the score was ever a Nelson multiple. He would hop, shuffle, or jiggle, particularly if the number of wickets also matched—111/1, 222/2 etc.
NHS 111, a medical helpline in England and Scotland.
It is the lowest positive integer requiring seven syllables to name in English (British and Commonwealth), or six syllables (by dropping the "and") in American English.
The 111st composite number146[4] is the twelfth number whose totient value is the same value held by its sum-of-divisors. The sequence of nonagonal numbers that precede 111 is {0, 1, 9, 24, 46, 75},[1] members which add to 146 (without including 9).
357, in turn the index of 444 as a composite,[4] is the twentieth such number, following 333.
The composite index of 1000 is 831,[4] the thirty-fifth member in this sequence of numbers to have a totient also shared by its sum-of-divisors, where 1000 is 1 + 999.
The only two numbers in decimal less than 1000 whose prime factorisations feature primes concatenated into a new prime are 138 and 777 (as 2 × 3 × 23 and 3 × 7 × 37, respectively), which add to 915. This sum represents the 38th member in the aforementioned sequence.[3]
^Relatedly, 111 is also the magic constant of the n-Queens Problem for n = 6.[6]