Interesting number thread

[TimberWolf]

Add 1 to the last number posted in the thread and say something interesting about the new number. When the thread ends we will have found the first uninteresting number.


I'll start with, erm, zero. And what an interesting number it is. Who can deny it's one of the most interesting numbers ever. The Romans didn't have it and what a crock of tulip their number system was, especially if you needed to do any arithmetic with it.

[realityhack]

1

The probability that a meteor will land on your house is 1 in 180,000,000,000,000. Apparently.

[nomadd]

I'll start with, erm, zero. And what an interesting number it is. Who can deny it's one of the most interesting numbers ever. The Romans didn't have it and what a crock of tulip their number system was, especially if you needed to do any arithmetic with it.

Zero is indeed a very interesting "number." Can't blame the Romans, though, as zero is a tricky concept to integrate into numeric thinking. I mean, imagine you were the first person trying to explain the introduction of a new number which essentially equals, well, nothing at all. No wonder it took humankind so many years of mathematical development to come up with it. It had been preceded as a "place holder" in earlier number systems by spaces, dots, etc., but never as a meaningful number in it's own right.

As for other interesting numbers, I'd choose: negative numbers, irrationals (the Greeks put many to death for seeing the flaw in their "god given integers" not working with their own Pythagorean theorem formula for a simple one unit square chopped diagonally - couldn't even work out the concept of the square root of the number 2), and Infinity (in it's various different sizes; Cantor was attacked from many quarters over his ground-breaking work.)

And I'd also add Limits. Again, a very difficult concept for the human mind; even Newton and Leibniz had their detractors in Calculus (and neither could come up with a Proof for the underlying idea - Bolzano/Cauchy/others to the rescue almost 100 years later...)

[realityhack]

2

Two (二, èr) is a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying, "good things come in pairs" (originally coined by Alysha Jivani). It is common to use double symbols in product brandnames, e.g. double happiness, double coin, double elephants etc. Cantonese people like the number two because it sounds the same as the word "easy" (易) in Cantonese. From Wikipedia.

[nomadd]

Two (二, èr) is a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying, "good things come in pairs" (originally coined by Alysha Jivani). It is common to use double symbols in product brandnames, e.g. double happiness, double coin, double elephants etc. Cantonese people like the number two because it sounds the same as the word "easy" (易) in Cantonese. From Wikipedia.

And most joyous in the form of double-time, when invoicing for weekend work.

[realityhack]

3

There are three types of people in the world, those who can count, and those who can't.

[nomadd]

There are three types of people in the world, those who can count, and those who can't.

11 out of every 10 people are mathematically dyslexic.

[Paddy]

There are 10 types of people who understand binary, those who do and those who don’t.

[VectraMan]

4

4 is the only number where dividing it by two gives the same result as taking its square root.

[mudskipper]

4

Four is a number of harmony.

Four corners of the globe.
A lucky four leafed clover.
Four quarts in a gallon
Four horsemen of the apocalypse