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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Favourite numbers
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Not saying - use it too much in passwords.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Most people have a favourite number - what's yours, and why?
Here are some of the more entertaining reasons why some people decided on their favourite numbers (scroll down, the YouTube is an ad).
They do? Who knew?
Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
I don't have a favourite number - I'm not actually that fond of numbers, more of a words girl myself - but I much prefer odd ones. I always like it better when my age is an odd number, for instance.
Even numbers are so rounded and self satisfied - "I'm divisible by two, you know..." Odd ones are more edgy, and bristling with possibilities.
Nen - worries about herself sometimes...
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They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
583, because it is sub prime.
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Last ever sig ...
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I like phi, φ, 1.618. It is the Golden Ratio. Which is worth a web search IMHO if you've never heard of it.
Pi, π, is another one, but not as aesthetically exciting.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
Actually, 583 is not prime, as it is 11 times 53, and it is not a sub prime number, as it is not 1 less than a prime.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I like 16. 1 and 6 feature in my birthdate, and they add up to 7, which is quiet and peaceful after the egocentricity of 1 and the noisiness of 6 (there are 6 1s in it, after all). I usually have a 16 in my range of numbers if I buy a lottery ticket.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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not entirely me
Shipmate
# 17637
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Posted
3.
Always has been my favourite.
It's "hard" and "blue" but no idea why it's my favourite otherwise.
Posts: 68 | From: England | Registered: Apr 2013
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
Just for the record, 28 is considered a perfect number (like 6) because it is the sum of its proper divisors: 28 = 14 + 7 + 4 + 2 + 1.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
I like 1000003, the smallest and most memorable seven-figure prime.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
My favourite numbers as a child were 3 and 10. I think that was because, at the time I was into favourite numbers, they were the ages of myself and my younger brother. I used to count up to either 3 or 10 regularly, over and over, to restore order to my world. Although this is many years ago now, I still admit to a sneaking regard for those numbers which kept be going way back then.
Apparently, according to a programme I watched, when people are asked to pick a number between one and ten, 3 and 7 are the favourite choices. And that when people are asked to pick a two digit number, the one most often picked is 37. Not sure why.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Jack o' the Green
Shipmate
# 11091
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Posted
4. It was the number on the 'Hymns Ancient and Modern' which was allocated to me when I was a choir boy. Also liked it because I thought it symbolised the Trinity + 1, the 1 being me. Seeing it written out like that makes me realise just how weird that is. Ah well.......
Posts: 3121 | From: Lancashire, England | Registered: Feb 2006
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
347, because it was my grandparents' membership number at the Bel Air Bay Club on the beach in LA near the end of Sunset Boulevard and also my father-in-law's house number on Cherry Avenue in Long Beach, though the latter no longer exists. I really don't use it for anything important though, I just like it!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
4711 a cologne used by an friend long long ago.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Certain fondness for 5.
Because I remember looking at my spread fingers and thinking I have 5 fingers and I am 5 years old - and being entranced by the realisation that there was something - fiveness - which transcended any specific instance.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
I like phi, φ, 1.618. It is the Golden Ratio. Which is worth a web search IMHO if you've never heard of it.
Pi, π, is another one, but not as aesthetically exciting.
I rather like e which I learnt to several decimal places when I was a schoolboy*:
2.718281828459045...
Wikipedia gives it to fifty decimal places, which is probably more than is necessary for Ship use.
*Yes, I was a bit of a maths geek [nerd?] back then.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Certain fondness for 5.
Because I remember looking at my spread fingers and thinking I have 5 fingers and I am 5 years old - and being entranced by the realisation that there was something - fiveness - which transcended any specific instance.
We had this thread before. I commented that my favorite number was five when I was a kid, because I decided it looked like a cute little round man with a cap on. Ken came sailing in five posts later.... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
We had this thread before.
Curses. I thought I'd found something original - no memories of a previous one.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
78, because it was my late grandparents' house number. I'd talk about going to 78 for the weekend, for example, so it was more than just a number, it was my favourite place to be.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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bib
Shipmate
# 13074
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Posted
24 because my three children were all born on the 24th of the month (different years and different months. Child number 1 was two weeks late, child number 2 was two weeks early and child number 3 was born on her due date. I'm always amazed at this and therefore choose 24 as my lucky number.
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"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
47 - one of the great vintage years of last century, in vineyards all around the world and in the San as well.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
We had this thread before.
Curses. I thought I'd found something original - no memories of a previous one.
I get that at my age too.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
Actually, 583 is not prime, as it is 11 times 53, and it is not a sub prime number, as it is not 1 less than a prime.
OK, sub prime.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
My favourite number used to be i. But then I realised I was imagining it.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
Actually, 583 is not prime, as it is 11 times 53, and it is not a sub prime number, as it is not 1 less than a prime.
OK, sub prime.
OOPS, semi prime.
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Last ever sig ...
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Kaplan Corday
Shipmate
# 16119
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Posted
Digression alert.
Does anyone else associate colours with numbers?
For me, one is white, two dark blue, three bright orangey red, four light grey, five yellow, six dark green, seven pale blue, eight dark brown, nine dark grey, and ten a browny red (similarity of ten and tan?)
I gather that the technical term for this is grapheme-colour synesthesia, but I'm not sure that I really have it, because I don't actually see the numbers on the page in those colours.
Posts: 3355 | Registered: Jan 2011
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
When we were children words were coloured
(Harlot and murder were dark purple)....
I didn't have quite the lurid vocabulary of the young McNeice obviously, but numbers - and days of the week - as among the earliest abstract concepts you had to learn/memorise partook of that primal synaesthesia.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Digression alert.
Does anyone else associate colours with numbers?
For me, one is white, two dark blue, three bright orangey red, four light grey, five yellow, six dark green, seven pale blue, eight dark brown, nine dark grey, and ten a browny red (similarity of ten and tan?)
I gather that the technical term for this is grapheme-colour synesthesia, but I'm not sure that I really have it, because I don't actually see the numbers on the page in those colours.
Ish. I'm the generation that had cuissinaire rods at school - white/one; red/two; green/three; pink /four etc, so I was actually taught that two reds equal a pink, and three greens and a white equals orange. It's not synesthesia, though, just the way I was taught. I can see numbers up to ten in their cuissinaire colours.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
4. I just like the way it sounds. Forrr. When I was in my late teens, early twenties, one of my acquaintances was a young man who was the fifth of his line and we called him "Four", to be cute. I've always remembered that.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Kaplan Corday
Shipmate
# 16119
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
When we were children words were coloured
(Harlot and murder were dark purple)....
And adultery is scarlet - the first letter is, anyway.
Is merely moderately sensationalist writing lilac literature rather than purple prose?
Posts: 3355 | Registered: Jan 2011
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HughWillRidmee
Shipmate
# 15614
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Posted
7 - from time immemorial so no idea why
However - in the late 70s I joined a large national salesforce - my area no. was 7! - then, in the mid 80s they decided to computerise the system and I had to become 007. You can imagine how I hated that - not!
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The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things.. but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them...
W. K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief" (1877)
Posts: 894 | From: Middle England | Registered: Apr 2010
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Wild Organist
Apprentice
# 12631
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Posted
42. Douglas Adams thought highly of it, and that's enough for me.
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Be very careful what you wish for. You might just get it.
Posts: 50 | From: West Sussex | Registered: May 2007
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anyone else associate colours with numbers?
Yes: some stand out more than others. 8 is unequivocally orange-red, hard; 6 is pale blue; 3 is a sort of mid to dark green; 11 is silver. 4 is red, but not a very bright one, while 9 is a kind of mauve-grey. I have no idea about the others.
It's entirely possible that I may have been influenced by numerology as a child, where the colours are associated with numbers, signs of the Zodiac, etc.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
My favourite number used to be i. But then I realised I was imagining it.
Aaaarrrghhhh.....!!!
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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chive
Ship's nude
# 208
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Posted
Three and eight are my safe numbers. Three is only safe on its own but eight can be safe in multiples or divisibles of itself (ie half of eight or half of half of eight). Every day when I travel to work on the Eurotunnel my colleagues and I discuss whether the carriage we're in is a safe one according to the Law of the Threes and the Eights.
It is safe to go upstairs if there are threes or eights involved. Thankfully both my house and my work have twelve steps which is eight plus half of eight so therefore safe.
When I walk I do it counting up to eight in my head. I always have to make it so when I finish where I'm walking to it is on an eight step otherwise I can't stop.
At one junction on the way to work I count the cars waiting to go the other direction. If there are three or follow the eight rule the day will be safe.
The Law of Threes and Eights makes life quite complicated sometimes.
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'Edward was the kind of man who thought there was no such thing as a lesbian, just a woman who hadn't done one-to-one Bible study with him.' Catherine Fox, Love to the Lost
Posts: 3542 | From: the cupboard under the stairs | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Digression alert.
Does anyone else associate colours with numbers?
For me, one is white, two dark blue, three bright orangey red, four light grey, five yellow, six dark green, seven pale blue, eight dark brown, nine dark grey, and ten a browny red (similarity of ten and tan?)
I gather that the technical term for this is grapheme-colour synesthesia, but I'm not sure that I really have it, because I don't actually see the numbers on the page in those colours.
Synesthesia doesn't mean you can't visually see that the numbers on the page are in black ink (or red, or blue, or whatever). It means that you have a strong and involuntary association between a number or letter and a color (some people see it in their mind's eye). IMHO a sure sign of synesthesia is if you see one of those hand-colored car wash signs where the local youth group is fund-raising, and somebody has decided to do each letter in a different rainbow color--and your hand starts itching to go over and correct the colors.*
*Yes, that'd be me. ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
And 1 is white, two is red, three is yellow/orange, four is light yellow/green, five is electric blue...
There are also people who have associations with sounds, textures, or tastes rather than/in addition to colors.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I like eights too. I had a mildly OCD-like condition in childhood, and I used to walk home counting steps in eights. I can still count things by eights and sixteens in a semi-conscious, not concentrating kind of way--which is handy when you're doling out Easter eggs or something.
But I do wonder about the possible OCD connection, now that I see my son doing much the same.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Starbug
Shipmate
# 15917
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Posted
I associate some numbers with emotions. I think it's something to with the way they look on the page. For example, 5 always looks angry and 3 looks frightened.
My favourite number is 7, which is supposed to be lucky and also because I read somewhere that's it's God's number, i.e. 7 represents perfection. The devil's number is 666, which falls short of perfection because it can't reach 7, no matter how many more sixes you add to the end of it.
I'm a bit OCD...
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“Oh the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do? Assemble a cabinet at them?” ― The Day of the Doctor
Posts: 1189 | From: West of the New Forest | Registered: Sep 2010
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
Just for the record, 28 is considered a perfect number (like 6) because it is the sum of its proper divisors: 28 = 14 + 7 + 4 + 2 + 1.
I used to think 28 was the perfect age, which I aspired to attain. Now it seems Far Too Young.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I can still count things by eights and sixteens in a semi-conscious, not concentrating kind of way--.
Very handy for doing music, as well!
My number is 13. Not always lucky, but it's mine. (I was 13 on Friday the 13th.)
It could be I like the number because a baker's dozen of a favorite pastry is a Good Thing™.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
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Posted
The speed of light c is a pretty good number (299 792 458 m/s)
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I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
The BBC World Service's version of More or Less had an episode dedicated to this recently.
I've always been partial to 3.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
quote:
Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
... Does anyone else associate colours with numbers?
Ish. I'm the generation that had cuissinaire rods at school - white/one; red/two; green/three; pink /four ...
I was just thinking exactly that - I'm that generation too!
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
When I was a wee girl I started to feel like I'd be safer if I did everything a set number of times. It was usually ten. It was so inconvenient and anxiety-provoking that I resisted the urge and got over it within a fortnight or so. Having met lots of people who struggle with obsessive compulsive behaviours I am now grateful that the habit didn't stick, and that no number makes me overly anxious now.
Three is a good number for a road trip, and seven for a camping weekend. I like to cook for nine including children for Christmas dinner.
Cattyish, numbers for most occasions.
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...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
Pi, π, is another one, but not as aesthetically exciting.
To be totally nerdish, I'd go for π expressed in base 16. It begins: 3.243F6A8885A308D313198A2E037
07344A4093822299F31D0
082EFA98EC4E6C89452821E638
D01377BE5466CF34E90C6CC0AC29B7C97C50DD3F84D5B5B54 709179216D5D98979FB ...
In decimal π's digits appear to be completely random. If someone asks, "What's the millionth digit of π" you have to calculate all the first million to find out. Though the base 16 digits above look random there is a formula to give you just the 1000000th.
So if by chance we'd had evolved with 16 fingers π wouldn't have seemed quite so mysterious.
[Try not to break the scroll lock, please.
Thanks,
Ariel, Heaven Host.]
[ 04. May 2014, 16:57: Message edited by: Ariel ]
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"controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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