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47 (number)

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← 46 47 48 →
Cardinalforty-seven
Ordinalth
Factorizationprime
Divisors1, 47
Greek numeralΜΖ´
Roman numeralXLVII
Binary1011112
Ternary12023
Senary1156
Octal578
Duodecimal3B12
Hexadecimal2F16

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

In mathematics

Forty-seven is the fifteenth prime number, a safe prime, the thirteenth supersingular prime, and the sixth Lucas prime. Forty-seven is a highly cototient number. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form .

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….

Forty-seven 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}.

Forty-seven is a Carol number. It is a real prime number.

In science

Astronomy

As an in-joke

Forty-seven has been the favorite number of Pomona College, California, USA, since 1964. A mathematical proof, written in 1964 by Professor Donald Bentley, supposedly demonstrates that all numbers are equal to 47.[4] However, Bentley offered it as a "joke proof" further to a popular student research project that listed real and imaginative "47 sightings". Bentley used the invalid proof to introduce his students to the concept of mathematical proofs.[5]

Joe Menosky graduated from Pomona College in 1979 and went on to become one of the story writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Menosky "infected" other Star Trek writers with an enthusiasm for the number 47.[6] As a result, 47, its reverse 74, its multiples, or combinations of 47 occur surreptitiously in almost every episode of the program and its spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.[4][7] Forty-seven might be mentioned in dialogue or appear on a computer screen, for example:

  • 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," the computer of the Enterprise reports to have found 47 occurrences of the word "Darmok" in its database.
  • 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.[8]
  • 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.

In pop culture

The 47 society is an outgrowth of the "movement" started at Pomona College.[4] They explore the belief that 47 occurs in nature more frequenly than other numbers and share their personal sightings in consideration of 47 being "the quintessential random number".[9]

In the movie Hitman, the main character is known only as Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant), though this is based on the game character. The tale of the Forty-seven Ronin is an historical Japanese story, based upon actual events that took place in year 1701 of the Western calendar. It is mentioned in John Frankenheimer's movie Ronin.

In the 2001 TV series Alias, the number 47 bears a specific significance concerning the Milo Rambaldi mythology. Among other things, page 47 of the Rambaldi manuscript contains the prophecy regarding the Chosen one and the Passenger.

The number 47 also appears in music. Black 47 is 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 repeats, "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.[10] Forty-seven is the usual number strings of a pedal harp. 47 is a song by Sunny Day Real Estate. Object 47 (named as the 47th release in the discography) is the name of an album release from Wire.

In video games, the main character of the Hitman series is Agent 47. In Half-Life 2: Episode 1, the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, begins the game with 47 points of health.

Other appearances

Forty-seven is the number of Ray Garraty, the main character in The Long Walk by Stephen King. In the animated web series Afterworld, the worldwide EMP re-occurs every 47 minutes. HK-47 is a droid from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The number 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.[11]

In sports

NBA star Andrei Kirilenko wears the jersey number 47. His shoes are custom made by Nike and have "AK-47" embroidered on them. Scott Norwood's legendary missed field goal was from 47 yards out.

Calendar years

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 in the world.
  • 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.
  • Hakuba 47 is the name of a major ski resort in Hakuba, Japan.

References

  1. ^ The NGC / IC Project - Home of the Historically Corrected New General Catalogue (HCNGC) since 1993
  2. ^ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEsaros/SEsaros1-175.html
  3. ^ NASA - Lunar Eclipses of Saros Series 1 to 175
  4. ^ a b c "The Mystique of 47". Pomona College. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  5. ^ "The Mystery of 47". Pomona College. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  6. ^ "Stardate 47". Pomona College. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  7. ^ "Starbase Pomona". Pomona College. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  8. ^ schlock.net: A letter from Brannon Braga
  9. ^ The 47 Society
  10. ^ Digital Collections - Music - Sarony, Leslie. Forty-seven ginger-headed sailors [music]
  11. ^ Oregon Business Magazine, October 2008