88 (number)

88 (eighty-eight) is the natural number following 87 and preceding 89.

← 87 88 89 →
← 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 → List of numbers Integers ← 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 →
Cardinal	eighty-eight
Ordinal	th
Numeral system	88
Factorization	$2^{3}\cdot 11$
Divisors	1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 22, 44, 88
Greek numeral	ΠΗ´
Roman numeral	LXXXVIII
Binary	10110002
Ternary	100213
Senary	2246
Octal	1308
Duodecimal	7412
Hexadecimal	5816

In mathematics

Eighty-eight is a refactorable number, a primitive semiperfect number and an untouchable number. It is also a 16-gonal number.

Since it is possible to find sequences of 88 consecutive integers such that each inner member member shares a factor with either the first or the last member, 88 is an Erdős–Woods number.

In base 10, it is a palindromic number and a repdigit.

In astronomy

• The number of constellations in the sky as defined by the International Astronomical Union
• Messier object M88, a magnitude 11.0 spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices
• The New General Catalogue object NGC 88, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Phoenix, and a member of Robert's Quartet
• The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on -246 October 6 and ended on 1233 March 12. The duration of Saros series 88 was 1478.4 years, and it contained 83 solar eclipses. Further, the Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on 38 July 5 and ended on 1336 August 23. The duration of Saros series 88 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 lunar eclipses.
• Approximately the number of days it takes Mercury to complete its orbit

Cultural significance

In Asian culture

Eighty-eight (88) symbolizes fortune and good luck since the word 8 sounds similar to the word Fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number of all in Chinese culture and prices in Chinese supermarkets can often be found containing many 8's, See Numbers in Chinese culture. The Chinese government has even been auctioning auto license plates containing many 8s for tens of thousands of dollars. The 2008 Beijing Olympics opened on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m. [1]

88 is used to mean "bye bye"; Found in Chinese-language chat, text, SMS, IM. 88 is pronounced in Chinese Mandarin language as "ba ba" ("bā bā" to be precise), simulating the sound of the English language farewell "bye bye".

As a Neo-Nazi symbol

Eighty-eight is used as code among Neo-Nazis to identify each other. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, so 88 is taken to stand for HH which in turn means Heil Hitler. For example, the number is used in the song "88 rock'n'roll band" by the neo-Nazi group Landser.14 is used similarly, referring to the so-called "Fourteen Words", often found in combination with 88 (1488, 14/88, etc.). This form of the number has inspired the naming of the groups Column 88, Unit 88 and White Legion 88. It also can refer to the 88 Precepts of the late convicted Order terrorist David Lane.

In sports

Professional golfer Kathy Whitworth, throughout her playing career won 88 LPGA Tour tournaments, more than anyone else has won on either the LPGA Tour or the PGA Tour.

In Major League Baseball, Red Sox Ted Williams hit 88 home runs against the Tigers, his most against any one team. Rich Gedman hit 88 home runs in his career (1980-1992) with the Red Sox, Astros, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

In NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the #88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet in the 2008 season of the Sprint Cup Series with Hendrick Motorsports.

In the National Hockey League, Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks wears 88 for the year he is born in, 1988. The number 88 is also the team number for Eric Lindros.

In the National Football League Tony Gonzalez is number 88.

Rookie forward Nicolas Batum wears number 88 for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association.

In Amateur Radio

In amateur radio 88 was used by telegraph operators as an abbreviation for love and kisses. Though listed in official American Radio Relay League abbreviations, in practice it was rarely used except between a male and female operator when one wanted to express affection for the other. It was more talked about and joked about by radio amateurs than anything else.

In other fields

Eighty-eight is also:

• the year AD 88, 88 BC, or 1988
• a popular ice cream bar manufactured by GB Glace.
• the atomic number of radium
• Anna's Eighty-eight (Diaethria anna) the "88 butterfly".
• the number of keys on a piano (36 black and 52 white)
• in Christian Science: the number of the last edition of the Church Manual announced to the Christian Science field in the Christian Science Sentinel in 1910
• A live album by the influential Christian Rock Band The 77s, Eighty-Eight 88 (album)
• in the title of the songs:
  • "Rocket 88," a song first recorded at Sam Phillips' studio in 1951. Rocket 88 was later the name taken by a U.K. band during the eighties.
  • "88 Lines About 44 Women" by the musical group The Nails
  • "88" by the Canadian punk band Sum 41 on their 2004 album, Chuck.
  • "88" by the English Nu-Metal band Apartment 26 on their second album, Music for the Massive (2004) (Atlantic/Wea).
  • "88" by hip-hop act The Cool Kids.
  • "88" by the Japanese electro-pop duo LM.C, or Lovely Mocochang.com on their single, titled "88".

Olds 88

• the model number of the Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight automobile and the AGM-88 HARM missile
• the caliber of the 88 mm anti-aircraft gun used in World War II, commonly known as 88 (acht-acht in German)
• the number of the French department Vosges
• the designation of two freeways named Interstate 88: one in Illinois and the other in New York
• the town of Eighty Eight, Kentucky, Zip code 42130
• used
  • in sexual parlance to describe oral sex performed twice (ate twice)
  • in Japanese, often used to mean "a great many" or "countless"; numbers such as eighteen, eighty, eighty thousand, eight-hundred eighty thousand and the like can bear the same connotation.
  • in hip hop, in the case of which 88 = HH = hiphop
• in Star Wars, part of the name of the four IG-88 robots
• in Kill Bill, the name of O-Ren Ishii's Army, the Crazy 88
• the ISBN Group Identifier for books published in Italy and Switzerland
• in miles per hour, the speed the DeLorean automobile must attain in order to travel in time, in the Back to the Future trilogy
• in the TV series Black Books (Series 2, Episode 2: "Fever"), the temperature (presumably in fahrenheit) above which Manny's case of Dave's Syndrome will trigger. This is suspected to be a parody of the use of the number 88 in the Back to the Future trilogy (See preceding point)
• the number of Athena's saints (knights) in Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac)
• the number of floors of Petronas Towers, as of 2005 the world's tallest twin buildings
• in Bingo, 88 is known as "Two Fat Ladies"
• The 88, a rock band from Los Angeles
• was described as "The number of the Anti-Terrorist" in the documents submitted to NBC by Cho Seung-hui prior to the massacre at Virginia Tech on 16 April 2007 [2]
• is the number of an anti-terrorist police squad, called "Detachment 88" (Detachment 88) set up by the Indonesian government following the 2002 Bali bombing which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
• Used to say "kisses and hugs" among morse code and amateur radio users, as it resembles an image of two lips kissing.
• Super 88 Market sells Asian foods throughout the Boston area
• Tanner '88, Garry Trudeau's HBO series on the fictional campaign of Congressman Jack Tanner in his bid for the White House
• 88 Minutes, a 2008 film starring Al Pacino
• 88open was an industry standards group in '88 created by Motorola to standardize Unix systems
• The House on East 88th Street, a book by Bernard Waber
• 88-Keys, an American record producer and rapper
• in Texas hold'em poker, the pocket pair 88 is referred to as the "Snowmen"