The Theory Of Number 23

This is the 23rd post of this year in my blog. Therefore, I'll reveal a theory of this mystical number. Oh, and what comes next is English. I won't botter translate it, because it's all over the internet. And one more thing: be careful, you might get obsessed with it.

-To most, it's just what comes between 22 and 24. But for others, this number represents an obsession.

-23 is one of the most commonly cited prime numbers - a number that can only be divided by itself and one. Twenty three is the lowest prime that consists of consecutive digits. Primes have been described as the "atoms" of mathematics - the building blocks of the world of numbers.

-John Forbes Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who was the subject of the film, A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe, was obsessed with 23. It featured proeminently in his battle with mental illness. His breakdown began when he claimed that a photograph of Pope John XXIII on the cover of Life magazine was in fact him, the proof being that 23 was his favourite number. Nash published 23 scientific articles.

-More freaky numerical coincidences: Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was published in 1859 - 1+8+5+9 = 23. Two divided by three makes 0.666 recurring (allegedly - actually it makes 0.6666666667).

-The Hiroshima bomb in World War II was dropped at 8.15am - 8+15= 23.

-In the disaster movie, Airport, the bomber has seat 23. The number of crosses on Calvary at the end of the Monty Python film, The Life of Brian, is 23. In Die Hard With A Vengeance, a train derails in subway station 23. The lead characters in the Coen brothers' film The Big Lebowski always used Lane 23 at the bowling alley. In the television series Lost, one of the combination of six numbers that haunt the characters and they have to input to a computer to avoid an unknown fate is 23.

-The terrorist attacks on America on 11 September 2001 have been held up as one of the most portentous examples of the disturbing power of 23. The figures in the date (9+11+2+0+0+1) add up to 23. The independent US commission which investigated the attacks found the date had been chosen randomly by the hijackers and had originally been planned for later in the year. Alternative explanations for the date included the taking over of Palestine by Britain in 1922 and the fact that 911 is the US emergency code.

-Sport stars have developed a particular affinity (and aversion) to 23. Michael Jordan, the American basketball player, wore the number throughout his career and inspired many copy cat fans of wardrobe vigintitriplicity. Best known is former England captain David Beckham, who swapped his number seven Manchester United jersey for number 23 when he joined Real Madrid. Beckham, who said it was in deference to Jordan, is expected to continue wearing 23 when he joins LA Galaxy this summer. But the number is not always a harbinger of sporting good fortune. Manchester City have not assigned the squad number 23 to any player since 2003 after the last incumbent, Marc Vivien Foe, collapsed and died while playing for the Cameroon on 26 June 2003. Marcus Trescothick, the England cricket players, wears number 23 and was Australian bowler Shane Warne's 600th test wicket. Warne also wears 23.

-The Bible does not let 23 pass without conferring upon it some significance, at least to students of the Book. Although the Old Testament is unspecific, it is widely held that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters. The 23rd verse of the first chapter of Genesis brings the act of creation to a close while the 23rd chapter of the book of Genesis deals entirely with death, namely that of Abraham's wife, Sarah. The most famous and most quoted of the Psalms is number 23: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters."
Also, the Apocalypse from the Bible, has only 22 chapters? Isn’t that strange?

-Each parent contributes 23 chromosomes to the start of human life. The nuclei of cells in human bodies have 46 chromosomes made out of 23 pairs. Egg and sperm cells in humans have 23 chromosomes which fuse and divide to create an embryo.

-The most detailed account of the assassination of Julius Caesar, written by Nicolaus of Damascus, claims numerous enemies stabbed the Roman emperor 23 times. The wounds ranged from superficial to mortal.

-William Shakespeare was born in Stratford Upon Avon on 23 April 1564. He died 52 years later on his birthday, 23 April 1616.
23+23=46. Shakespeare was 46 years old in the year 1610 (1+6+1+0=8, 8=2³), the year the King James Bible was published. Psalm 46 in that translation has as its 46th word "shake" while the 46th word from the end is "spear." Go ahead, explain that one. I dare you. It's also a fun party trick!

-Kurt Cobain, the god of grunge, was born in 1967 and died in 1994 - 1+9+6+7= 23, 1+9+9+4 = 23.

-The Knights Templar, the order of soldier monks who eventually fell foul of the Vatican and have been the subject of conspiracy theories about the Holy Grail, had 23 Grand Masters.

-The first morse code transmission - "What hath God wrought?" - was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23. In telegraphers code 23 means "break the line".

-The Birthday Paradox states that a group of 23 randomly-selected people is the smallest number where there will be a probability higher than 50 per cent that two people will share the same birthday.

- "W" is the 23rd letter of the Latin alphabet. It has two points down and three points up. White supremacists use 23 to represent "W" as a mark of racial superiority.

-E is the fifth letter of the alphabet, and also the most commonly used in the English language. W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet. Half of W is V, which is the roman numeral for 5. Once again, therefore, the inherent connection between 5 and 23 is proven.

-The average human physical biorhythm is 23 days.

-Base 3 ->The number 23, written in base 3, is 212 (2+1+2=5)

-Base 4 ->23 written in base 4 is 113 (1+1+3=5).

-Base 7 ->23 written in base 7 is 32 (3+2=5).

-Over 50% of the national media is owned by 23 major corporations, as reported by Noam Chomsky. To recapitulate... more than half of the information thrust upon the American people is controlled by only 23 corporations.

-Tropic of Cancer currently lies 23.5 grades North of Equator.

-Tropic of Capricorn currently lies 23.5 grades South of Equator.

-The Mayans believed that in the year 2012 is the Apocalypse (20+1+2=23)...Strange, huh?