[Dragaera] OT reference to the number 17

[Jerry Friedman]

--- Maximilian Wilson <wilson.max at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 11/9/06, Casey Rousseau <casey at the-bat.net> wrote:
> > Buckley has obviously pulled the number 17 out of his, um, hat.  This
> > number is what you're likely to come up with when you're asked to pick
> a
> > random number: it's the smallest prime number without any special
> > cultural significance.  ...
> 
> What is the significance of 11?

When I was in college, in the early '80s, I took mathematical
logic from Paul Benacerraf, a brilliant lecturer.  He was fond
of using 17 as an example, saying things like, "Take an
arbitrary number--say, 17".  One day a student asked why he
always picked 17.  Here's a paraphrase of his answer as I
remember it.

An arbitrary number shouldn't be too big--best if it's less
than 20.  Odd numbers are obviously more arbitrary than even
numbers.  The number one is clearly unacceptable.  Three is the
number of the Trinity, so it's not arbitrary.  Five is fundamental
to our base-10 system and money.  Seven and eleven are naturals
in craps.  Nine is three squared.  Thirteen is bad luck.  Fifteen
is three times five, so we eliminate it for the same reasons.
And nineteen is really too close to twenty.  There you are.

(See also 17 in the /Illuminatus!/ books.  Twenty-three plays a
role there too.  I tried to argue that 23 is the perfectly
arbitrary number, being the sum of a perfect number, 6, and the
arbitrary number, 17, but I never convinced anybody.)

Jerry Friedman


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Want to start your own business?
Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index