If the title of the post interested you enough to find out, read the short essay by Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics and a soccer fan. 23 seems to be the number of choice for other sport celebrities and world figures like Michael Jordan or Pope John XXIII. Nature also gave us 23 pairs of chromosomes. And let's not forget that according to historical records Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times, which most likely was a pure coincidence and not a deliberate counting by the assassins. So, what's so special about number 23?
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Beckham in his prime
See also an interactive resource to learn through games all about prime numbers.
It is interesting to think of prime numbers as the building blocks of all numbers, because every number is the result of multiplying two prime numbers. These numbers are fascinating and their occurrence in nature is even more fascinating. I really enjoyed reading about the cicada’s use of the prime number 17. They hide underground and only come above ground every 17 years. This cycle of 17 years avoids the cycles of many other animals and possible predators because 17 is not divisible by any numbers but one and 17. Therefore, creatures who are usually on two, four or five year cycles will not affect the cicadas because they will be underground when the cicadas emerge.
ReplyDeleteI looked up some other instances of prime numbers in nature online. Some other examples include the starfish having 5 points, the sunflower having 23 petals and humans have 23 chromosomes. I am not sure if these organisms having a characteristic relating to prime numbers benefits them in any way such as the cicadas, but it just adds to my fascination. This article on Beckham and prime numbers was published in 2003, but since then there has been some breakthroughs in the study of primes. In May of 2009, mathematicians from Spain found a new pattern in prime numbers. The pattern is found in the first digit of each prime number and is a generalization of Benford’s Law. Benford’s Law claims that the leading digits of numbers are distributed logarithmically. This is very exciting new information.
Lori Key