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No, they are not. The symbols in the equation are simply numbers, and "9 ≥ a ≥ b ≥ c ≥ d ≥ 0" constrains them to 0-9.

You are mistaking the map for the territory, sort of. The positional aspects of the number system get encoded the equations and then the mere "numbers" don't matter anymore.

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I think we are talking past each other. In base ten if you start with 1234 and cycle though asdf - fdsa > new number you hit a single stable number 6174 .

In base 11 using 6174 you cycle:

4808, 87A3, 7094, 9272, 3098, 9452, 7094 (cycle)

I was thinking of a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistic_map for this equation abcd - dcba > might be interesting across different bases.

Yes they are. Where he meant 1000a+100b+10c+d he wrote abcd.

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