47 (number)

← 46 47 48 →
← 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 → List of numbers Integers ← 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 →
Cardinal	forty-seven
Ordinal	th
Factorization	prime
Divisors	1, 47
Greek numeral	ΜΖ´
Roman numeral	XLVII
Binary	1011112
Ternary	12023
Senary	1156
Octal	578
Duodecimal	3B12
Hexadecimal	2F16

47 (forty-seven) is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48.

In mathematics

Forty-seven is the 15^th prime number, a safe prime, the 13^th supersingular prime, and the 6^th Lucas prime. 47 is a highly cototient number. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form $3n-1$.

It is also a Keith number, because it recurs in a Fibonacci-like sequence started from its base 10 digits: 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47...

47 is a strictly non-palindromic number.

Its representation in binary being 00101111, 47 is a prime Thabit number, and as such is related to the pair of amicable numbers {17296, 18416}.

47 is a Carol number. It is a real prime number.

In science

• The atomic number of silver

Astronomy

• Messier object M47, a magnitude 4.5 open cluster in the constellation Puppis
• The New General Catalogue object NGC 47, a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus. This object is also designated as NGC 58.
• The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on 1306 BC April 2 and ended on 26 BC May 10. The duration of Saros series 47 was 1280.1 years, and it contained 72 solar eclipses.
• The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on 1275 BC July 31 and ended on 258 February 5. The duration of Saros series 47 was 1537.5 years, and it contained 86 lunar eclipses.

As an in-joke

There exists a 47 society, an outgrowth of a movement started at Pomona College, California, USA, which propagates the belief (or, to some, the inside joke) that the number forty-seven occurs in nature with noticeably higher frequency than other natural numbers, that it is the quintessential random number. The origin of 47 lore at Pomona appears to be a mathematical proof, written in 1964 by Professor Donald Bentley, which supposedly demonstrated that all numbers are equal to 47. However, the proof mentioned above was used by Professor Bentley as a "joke proof" to introduce his students to the concept of mathematical proofs, and is not mathematically valid.

Joe Menosky, who graduated from Pomona College in 1979 and went on to become one of the story writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "infected" other Star Trek writers with it. As a result the number 47, its reverse of 74, or a multiple of 47 occurs in some way or other in almost every episode of this program and its spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. The number might be mentioned in the dialogue, appear on a computer screen a character is looking at, or be a substring of a larger number. Some examples are listed here:

• In Star Trek Generations, Scotty manages to beam up only 47 El-Aurians before their ship is destroyed by the energy ribbon.
• In the TNG episode "Darmok," Worf reports a particle gradient of 4/7.
• In the DS9 episode "Whispers," the planet Parada 4 has seven moons.
• In the Voyager episode "Tattoo," we learn that the Emergency Medical Holographic Channel is 47.
• In the Voyager episode "Non Sequitur," Harry Kim lives in apartment 4-G, G being the seventh letter of the alphabet. The intentionality of this reference to 47 was confirmed by Brannon Braga, the writer of that episode.
• In the 2009 film Star Trek, the Enterprise was built in Sector 47 of the Riverside Shipyards, and 47 Klingon ships are said to have been destroyed by Nero's ship, the Narada.

From Star Trek, the 47 was carried on into modern pop culture and nowadays appears frequently in motion pictures, television shows and in music, contributing to the 47 society belief/myth.

In motion pictures

• In the movie Hitman, the main character is known only as Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) (though this is based on the game character).
• In the movie Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Nick Fisher's apartment (the one Josh Hartnett sleeps in) is Apartment 47.
• In David Lynch's movie Inland Empire, Laura Dern eventually reaches a door with the number 47 on it. Also, the old Polish movie (that On High In Blue Tomorrows remakes) has "4" and "7" in its name.
• The tale of the 47 Ronin is a historical Japanese story, based upon actual events that took place in year 1701 of the western calendar. It is mentioned in John Frankenheimers movie Ronin.
• In the motion picture, The Sum of All Fears, a nuclear arm is sold for 47 million $US. The moment the bomb detonates '4007' is said.
• In Matt Reeves' movie Cloverfield, the area where the tape is found is called Area 447. Also, when the main characters are looking for Beth McIntyre in her apartment, they pass apartment 47. 47 appears again on a subway sign.
• In the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Steve Carell's character has a collection of 47 G.I. Joe action figures
• In the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), drove car number 47.
• In the film National Treasure: Book of Secrets, the president asks for page 47 of the titular book.
• In the film Man On Fire, the kidnappers' debit card has the PIN "47,47".
• In the original version of "The Omen", there are 47 crucifixes in Father Brennan's apartment.
• In Bruce Almighty, a woman's prayer is answered when she loses 47 pounds on the "Krispy Kreme Diet".
• In Hamlet 2, Steve Coogan claims to have been working on a play for "47 Billion hours".
• In Monsters, Inc., a scene shows a nixie tube display of accident-free days which reads 47 before being reset to 0.
• In Back to the Future, when Doc says he plans to time-travel 30 years ahead, Marty tells Doc he'll be "about 47".
• In Return of the Jedi, Admiral Ackbar is alerted to an Imperial Fleet in Sector 47.
• In Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, during the robot attack on the airfield, a defense turret emerges labeled "T-47".
• In the film Blackballed The Bobby Dukes Story, Lenny Pear (Paul Scheer)'s jersey number was 47.

In television shows

• The Sky One programme Brainiac had a short segment entitled '47 second science'.
• In the manga and anime Claymore, there are 47 warriors in the Organization, as well as the main character being Rank 47
• In the TV series Scrubs, the number of the apartment JD moves out to from Turk's apartment is also #47.
• In various episodes of the television series Alias, Lost and Fringe, the number 47 makes an appearance. In Alias, the number 47 is central to the plot as it had significance in the work of Rambaldi.
• The show Seinfeld has many references. In "The Pothole", Elaine orders dish number 47 from a Chinese restaurant. In The Parking Garage, Jerry lies to a security guard, telling him that it was his parents' 47th anniversary. It was in fact George's parents' 47th anniversary.
• In an episode of The George Lopez Show, it is revealed that Carmen has told her parents that she hates them 47 times.
• In an episode of The OC, page 47 of A Season for Peaches is mentioned several times.
• In the 36th episode of South Park entitled Jackovasaurus, one of the Jackovasaurs named "Jakov" quickly shouts "47" when he was asked a question on a game show.
• In the 2001 TV series Alias, the elusive page from the Rambaldi manuscript is page 47.
• In the 2009 episode of Fringe, the number 47 is located on the wall surrounded by newspaper clippings.
• In the 119th episode of South Park entitled Douche and Turd, when South Park Elementary gets visited by PETA, Mr. Garrison shouted "[...] since our school has been attacked by eco-terrorists for the 47th time[...]" when he addresses his class.
• In the UK sci fi comedy Red Dwarf, episode titled Quarantine. The crew on board starbug are instructed to go to bay 47.
• In the first episode of the TV series Jericho, a road sign is passed saying that the town of Jericho is 47 miles away.

In music

• Black 47, an Irish-American rock band
• In 1998, Japanese electronic musician Takako Minekawa released the album Cloudy Cloud Calculator, which featured a song about the number 47 entitled "Kangaroo Pocket Calculator". The song repeatedly states that "47 is a magical number. 47 plus 2 equals 49. 47 times 2 equals 94. 49 and 94. 94 and 49. Relationship between 47 and 2... is magic" and eventually concludes "Isn't it a coincidence?"
• Leslie Sarony published his song "Forty-Seven Ginger-Headed Sailors" in 1928.
• 47 is the usual number strings of a pedal harp
• 47 is a song by Sunny Day Real Estate
• 47 appears in the lyrics of track number five "Run run run" on The Velvet Underground's "The Velvet Underground & Nico."
• On the front cover of the Koxbox record "The great unknown" you can find the number 47 following three dots in the lower leftside corner.
• 47 appears in the lyrics to the John Vanderslice song "Trance Manual" from the album Pixel Revolt.
• Object 47 (named as the 47th release in the discography) is the name of an album release from Wire.
• 47 appears in the song "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley
• The lyrics of The Escape Club's 1988 song "Wild, Wild West" refer to "47 deadbeats" living in the same house.
• The song "Deathbed" by Relient K refers to 47 by referring to the year 1947.
• The lyrics of the song "Slow Down" by The Academy Is... refer to the number through the line "don't quit 'til 47."
• Singer and songwriter Michael Penn released an album in 2005 called Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947.
• 47 is the name of a song off New Found Glory's "Not Without a Fight".
• Locker47, a punk band
• Mimic47, song and an album by a Finnish melodic metal band Diablo
• Mob 47, a Swedish hardcore punk band

Other appearances

• In the video game series Hitman, the main character is Agent 47
• In the video game Half-Life 2: Episode 1, the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, begins the game with 47 points of health.
• The droid HK-47 from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
• 47 in the number of Ray Garraty, the main character in The Long Walk by Stephen King
• 47 appears on every bottle produced by Full Sail Brewery of Hood River, Oregon. This was representative of the number of employees at one time, and CEO Irene Firmat was apparently amused that it was 47, supposedly the most common random number. The brewery now has more employees, but the number remains on the bottles.
• In the animated web series Afterworld, the worldwide EMP re-occurs every 47 minutes.
• Claire was the 47th warrior in the 2007 Action-packed Japanese series Claymore (anime).

In sports

• 47 is the jersey number of NBA star Andrei Kirilenko. His shoes are custom made by Nike and have "AK-47" embroidered on them.
• 47 is also The jersey number of former major league pitcher Jack Morris, who was a starter for 4 World Series teams, the 1991 World Series MVP and a 5 time Major League All-Star.
• Scott Norwood's legendary missed field goal was from 47 yards out.
• Baseball player Jesse Orosco of the Boston Red Sox wore jersey #47.
• The jersey number of the New England Patriots free safety, John Lynch, is 47.
• 47 is the jersey number Michael Irvin wore while at the The University of Miami.
• 47 is the jersey number David Pollack wore while at The University of Georgia. Coincidentally, his teammate, Thomas Davis, wore jersey number 47 during his rookie year with the Carolina Panthers, before switching to number 58 in his second year.
• Atlanta Braves / New York Mets Pitcher Tom Glavine wore #47 (1995 World Series MVP)

Calendar years

• A.D. 47
• 47 BC
• 947
• 1047
• 1147
• 1247
• 1347
• 1447
• 1547
• 1647
• 1747
• 1847
• 1947
• 2047

Other

• Telephone dialing country code for Norway
• The AK-47, also known as a Kalashnikov rifle, is one of the most widely-used military weapons
• Municipal Okrug #47, name of Pulkovsky meredian Municipal Okrug of Moskovsky District of Saint Petersburg, Russia, before 2008
• 47 is the number of the French department Lot-et-Garonne
• The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are located 47 degrees apart.
• The P-47 Thunderbolt was a fighter aircraft used during WWII.

External links

• Frequently Asked Questions about 47 and The 47 Society
• Pomona College's Star Trek Connection
• Star Trek Voyager and the Number 47 - Featurette, an impressive video montage, very thorough
• 47 Movies
• The Mystique of 47, trivia about the number 47, also part of the Pomona College website
• 47 in the Alias fandom (from the All Alias Guide)
• 47 Media website hosts widget on their homepage with "47 facts" about the number 47