The Amazing Concepts

Dattatreya Ramchandra Kaprekar (D. R. Kaprekar; 1905 – 1986) was an Indian mathematician who discovered several classes of natural numbers including Kaprekar Constant. The number 6174 is called Kaprekar Constant for four-digit number. Why is the number 6174 called Kaprekar Constant? In 1949, D. R. Kaprekar discovered an interesting property of the number 6174 through the mathematical calculations. D. R. Kaprekar observed that when any four-digit number of non-identical digits (not all digits are same) is arranged in two parts – highest number and lowest number, and difference is calculated using subtraction method, then the end-result will be always 6174 either in the first step or in no more than 7 steps. If the process is continued even after getting the end-result 6174, then the end-result will be always 6174 at each Iteration, therefore the number 6174 is known as Kaprekar Constant. Steps to Follow Take any four-digit number with different digits. Form the highest nu...