Today's MathNotations # is 972...

OVERVIEW AND THE PROBLEM
As posted on Twitter (@dmarain), student's task is to list as many interesting properties/facts about 972 as possible, at least 10.  I posted a couple of possibilities but you may not want to give both of these away...

1) Prod of a perfect sq and a perf cube
2) a perf 5th power × a perf sq
...

REFLECTIONS
• Appropriate grade level? 3rd? 4th? Middle grades?
• 10+ properties way too much? Why do you think I chose that number? Depends on grade level? Abilities?
• What do you see as the principal
learning goals/benefits here? How highly would you rank "Expressing mathematical ideas/number properties in words?"
• We might naturally have students work in teams but I tended to respect that individual student who chose to work alone. Would you make this competitive to stimulate interest or that's not desirable?
• Beyond making a list of properties, what else should be expected here? How important is it for students to check their results? How about independent verification from another team member?

• Allow use of calculator throughout or after a little while?
• How is this different from MAA's "Today's Number is"?
• Anyone recall the last number I asked about a long time ago? [97 and 153!] You may want to click on the link...