6174 is a remarkable number; if we sort its digits in increasing order and subtract that number from the number you get when you sort the digits in decreasing order, we get 7641-1467=6174.
Even more remarkable is that if we start from any 4 digit number and repeat this process of sorting and subtracting, we'll eventually end up with 6174 or immediately with 0 if all digits are equal.
6174 is called the Kaprekar constant. The process of sorting and subtracting and repeating this until either 0 or the Kaprekar constant is reached is called the Kaprekar routine.
We can consider the Kaprekar routine for other bases and number of digits. Unfortunately, it is not guaranteed a Kaprekar constant exists in all cases; either the routine can end up in a cycle for some input numbers or the constant the routine arrives at can be different for different input numbers. However, it can be shown that for 5 digits and a base b = 6t+3≠9, a Kaprekar constant exists. E.g. base 15: (10,4,14,9,5)15 base 21: (14,6,20,13,7)21
Define Cb to be the Kaprekar constant in base b for 5 digits. Define the function sb(i) to be 0 if i = Cb or if i written in base b consists of 5 identical digits the number of iterations it takes the Kaprekar routine in base b to arrive at Cb, otherwise
Note that we can define sb(i) for all integers i < b5. If i written in base b takes less than 5 digits, the number is padded with leading zero digits until we have 5 digits before applying the Kaprekar routine.