Top Ten Numbers
>> 01 September 2008
A lot of people ask me: "Joel, what are the best numbers?" This is a tough question for two reasons. First, there are infinite numbers, so picking just ten of them becomes challenging. Second, I don't know all the numbers!. Sure, I know most of the basic ones, like seven, eight, million, billion, thousand, etc. but there are plenty of them which I don't know, so it's not easy to definitively compile this list. It's like someone asking me whether it's better to get hit in the face with a tennis ball which has been soaked in gasoline and set aflame, or to vacation in a five-star resort. Since I have never done either of these things, I'm not really qualified to judge, but oh well.
So, without any further delay, here is my list of top ten numbers.
- one
- two
- three
- 867-5309
- pi
- six hundo
- one billion
- six (sum of factors yields the original number... 1x2x3=1+2+3=6...you just have to respect that about six)
- c (speed of light 299,792,458 m/s)
- thirteen (makes the list with the dubious honor of being the unluckiest number)
4 comments:
You forgot 365. I'm not talking about the number of days in each year either. I'm talking about the number of pounds Bucky Carpenter could bench press. He was in my weightlifting class my junior year of high school. so what if he was 20 years old and had been in high school for 6 years. that's a lot of weight to push up from your chest, not to mention the fact that he drove a tiny ford fiesta which looked like it weighed about 360 pounds. therefore, he probably could've bench pressed his car.
One problem with your #6 choice: 1, 2, and 3 aren't all of the factors of 6. 6 is also a factor of 6. So 1x2x3x6 actually 36, but the sum of 1+2+3+6 is 12.
In other words, you suck at math.
Tim
In mathematics, a perfect number is defined as a positive integer which is the sum of its proper positive divisors, that is, the sum of the positive divisors excluding the number itself. Equivalently, a perfect number is a number that is half the sum of all of its positive divisors (including itself), or σ(n) = 2n.
I was just trying to explain in layman terms that 6 is a "perfect number"
42....The answer to the meaning of life.
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