16 (number)

"XVI" redirects here. For other uses, see 16 (disambiguation).

← 15 16 17 →
← 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 → List of numbers Integers ← 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 →
Cardinal	sixteen
Ordinal	16th (sixteenth)
Numeral system	hexadecimal
Factorization	24
Divisors	1, 2, 4, 8, 16
Greek numeral	ΙϚ´
Roman numeral	XVI
Binary	100002
Ternary	1213
Senary	246
Octal	208
Duodecimal	1412
Hexadecimal	1016
Hebrew	ט"ז (Tet Zayin)

16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 4² = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being 1, 2, 4 and 8.

In speech, the numbers 16 and 60 are often confused. When carefully enunciated, they differ in which syllable is stressed: 16 /sɪksˈtiːn/ vs 60 /ˈsɪksti/. However, in dates such as 1666 or when contrasting numbers in the teens, such as 15, 16, 17, the stress shifts to the first syllable: 16.

Sixteen is the fourth power of two. For this reason, 16 was used in weighing light objects in several cultures. The British have 16 ounces in one pound; the Chinese used to have 16 liangs in one jin. In old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5s and 5 lower beads to represent the 1s, the 7 beads can represent a hexadecimal digit from 0 to 15 in each column.

In mathematics

Sixteen is an even number and a square number.

Sixteen is the fourth power of two.

Sixteen is the only integer that equals mⁿ and n^m, for some unequal integers m and n (m = 4, n = 2, or vice versa). It has this property because 2² = 2 × 2. It is also equal to ³2 (see tetration).

16 is the base of the hexadecimal number system, which is used extensively in computer science.

In science

• The atomic number of sulfur
• Group 16 of the periodic table are the chalcogens

In languages

Grammar

In Spanish and Portuguese, 16 is the first compound number (Spanish: dieciséis, European Portuguese: dezasseis, Brazilian Portuguese: dezesseis); the numbers 11 (Spanish: once, Portuguese: onze) through 15 (Spanish: quince, Portuguese: quinze) have their own names.

Age 16

• Sixteen is the minimum age for being allowed an official beginner's driver's license with parental consent in many U.S. states and in Canada. In Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and the Isle of Man, it is the age one can begin to get a learner's license
• A "sweet sixteen" is celebrated by many sixteen-year-old girls in the United States. It is a coming of age celebration that traditionally marks a girl's transition into womanhood. For its significance in popular culture, this "coming of age" has inspired the titles of many songs, such as "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", "You're Sixteen", "Sweet Sixteen", "U16 Girls" "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Sixteen Candles"
• Sixteen is the minimum age that one can leave school in many states of the United States and Canada (however, restrictions apply and vary depending on state or province)
• In the United States, sixteen-year-old girls earn the right to privacy laws surrounding OBGYN practices
• In Belgium and Italy, it is the legal minimum age for a person to purchase any tobacco product.
• In the United States and Canada, 16 is the most common age of sexual consent, as well as the age in the United Kingdom.
• Sixteen is the minimum age to get married, with parental consent in many countries, and without parental consent in Scotland.
• Sixteen is the legal drinking age in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Portugal.
• Minimum age at which one can buy, rent, purchase, buy tickets to, or view a 16+ rated film in the Canadian province of Quebec. It is also the minimum age at which one can accompany a minor under-13 while buying, renting, or purchasing tickets to a 13+ rated movie in the province of Quebec.
• Minimum age at which one can donate blood (with parental consent) in many U.S. states
• Minimum age at which one can obtain an adult passport (which lasts ten years) in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.
• Minimum age at which one can join the Armed Forces in the United Kingdom (deployment is only allowed at age 18)
• Voting age in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, the Isle of Man and Nicaragua, and during the nineteenth century, in the Transvaal Republic.
• Sixteen is the age of majority in Cuba.

In sports

Many leagues and tournaments have 16 teams, for example:

• FIFA World Cup finals from 1934 through 1978 (although for various reasons, only 15 competed in the 1938 and 1950 finals)
• FIFA Women's World Cup finals from 1999 through 2011
• The season-ending playoffs in the NASCAR Cup Series
• The National League of Major League Baseball from 1998 to 2012

In both the NBA and NHL, 16 teams qualify for the respective league playoffs; it is also the number of games (four rounds, best four of seven games) needed to win the title.

The regular season of the National Football League currently consists of 16 games.

In other fields

• 16 steps make up the average bar of music in a 4/4 musical arrangement. The Roland TR-808, for instance, has 16 buttons that light up representing 16 16th notes making up a drum pattern.
• Sixteen, Kentucky, a community in the United States
• King of France (August 1754 – 21 January 1793) Louis XVI of France
• There are 16 ounces in an avoirdupois pound
• There are 16 pawns in a chess set and each player in a chess game starts with sixteen pieces

Sixteen frames of images

• "The Sixteen" is an English choir performing early religious music
• Sixteen is a Polish band that represented Poland in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest
• The Cadillac Sixteen
• There are 16 different personality types in the Myers-Briggs classification system
• A note played for one-sixteenth the duration of a whole note is called a sixteenth note or a semiquaver
• In the 16-bit era, 16-bit microprocessor ran 16-bit applications
• Sixteen Kingdoms, part of Chinese history
• Canada's Yellowhead Highway is designated as Highway 16
• Interstate 16 is the designation for a US interstate highway in Georgia
• The fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon
• 16 mm film was originally an amateur movie format, but is now used by professionals
• "16" is a song by American band Green Day
• The M16 rifle
• The number 16 is the symbol of the Day of solidarity with political prisoners and victims of the Lukashenka regime in Belarus, which is commemorated on 16th of every months by demonstrations and flash mobs worldwide
• A sixteen is a slang term for a verse in a hip hop song, which are often written in 16-bar stanzas.
• Android 16, a fictional character in the Dragon Ball manga series
• The amount of waking hours in a day in an "8 hours of sleep" schedule
• In the story of the Sleeping Beauty, a spell is placed on the princess that when she reaches her 16th birthday, she will "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die"
• 16 is the number of the French department Charente
• Many bank card numbers are 16 digits long
• There is a No Doubt song titled "Sixteen" on the album Tragic Kingdom
• There are 16 racetracks in Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
• The metalcore band Demon Hunter has a song titled "Sixteen" on their Storm the Gates of Hell album
• 16 is the number printed on the front of the Johnny Hero -one of the earliest action figures- jogging suit
• In Belgium, 16 is colloquially used to refer to the Belgian government or Prime Minister, especially in media, because of the official seat of the Belgian federal government being located on 16, rue de la Loi in Brussels. The full address is also sometimes used, in a similar way as 10, Downing Street in England.
• The number of rays in the Vergina Sun, symbol by Philip's Argead dynasty, possible religious symbol representing the Olympian gods.

External links

• Symonds, Ria; Parker, Matt. "16 x^y=y^x Sweet Sixteen". Numberphile. Brady Haran.