23 (number)

23	20	3

23 (twenty-three) is the natural number following 22 and preceding 24. It is the smallest natural number with an eleven letter name in the English language.

Template:Numbers 20s
Cardinal	23 twenty-three
Ordinal	23rd twenty-third
Factorization	prime
Divisors	1, 23
Roman numeral	XXIII
Binary	10111
Octal	27
Hexadecimal	17

In mathematics

• Twenty-three is the ninth prime number, the smallest odd prime that is not a twin prime. Twenty-three is also the fifth factorial prime, the second Woodall prime, and the second Smarandache-Wellin prime. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form $3n-1$.

• The fifth Sophie Germain prime and the fourth safe prime, 23 is the next to last member of the first Cunningham chain of the first kind to have five terms (2, 5, 11, 23, 47). Since 14! + 1 is a multiple of 23 but 23 is not one more than a multiple 14, 23 is a Pillai prime. 23 is the smallest odd prime to be a highly cototient number, as the solution to x - φ(x) for the integers 95, 119, 143, 529.

• The sum of the first 6 (2x3) digits of Pi are 23. 3+1+4+1+5+9 = 23

• 23 also has the distinction of being one of two integers that cannot be expressed as the sum of fewer than 9 cubes of integers (the other is 239). See Waring's problem.

• 23 is a Wedderburn-Etherington number and the sixth happy number.

• The codewords in the perfect (non-extended) binary Golay code are of size 23.

• In binary, 23 is the smallest prime having a composite sum of digits.

In science

• The atomic number of vanadium and the approximate atomic mass (in amu) of sodium.
• The number of chromosomes in a human germline cell
• Human somatic cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes.
• Avogadro's number used in chemistry is 6.0221367×10²³.

Astronomy

• Messier object M23, a magnitude 6.0 open cluster in the constellation Sagittarius

• The New General Catalogue object NGC 23, a magnitude 12.0 barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Pegasus

• The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on -2145 May 7 and ended on -865 June 15. The duration of Saros series 23 was 1280.1 years, and it contained 72 solar eclipses.

• The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on -1843 February 14 and ended on -527 April 14. The duration of Saros series 23 was 1316.2 years, and it contained 74 lunar eclipses.

• The 23rd moon of Jupiter is Carme.

• The earth's axis is tilted at a 23° 31.5' (23.525°) angle.

• A Sidereal day is 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.091 seconds.

• The planet Neptune was discovered on September 23, 1846.

• 23 was Adolf Hitler's favorite number. He would base many of his decisions involving numbers around 23.

In religion

• Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd...") is possibly the most quoted and best known psalm.

• In the religion of Discordianism, 23 is considered a holy number.

• France has twenty-three archbishops; the current Archbishop of Paris is André Vingt-Trois

• December 23 "Satan/Lucifer's Day" in Satanism.

• 2/3=.666 or 666 which is symbolic of the Age of Aquarius, and in prominent translations of the Book of Revelations is the number of the Beast.

• Jesus Christ according to many biblical scholars was born on July 23rd.

In History

• The Federal Republic of Germany was founded on May 23rd.

In numerology

Main article: 23 (numerology)

• The sacred number (along with 5) of Eris, goddess of discord, according to the Principia Discordia; it is the number of the Illuminati.
• Like 13, sometimes considered lucky or otherwise significant (as in the occult writings of Aleister Crowley and William S. Burroughs); see the 23 enigma.
  • 23 Skidoo is a title of a poem in Aleister Crowley's book "The Book of Lies - Falsely so Called"
• Robert Anton Wilson's book, Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati, lists 23 as a cosmic number with strong connections to arcane magic and synchronicity. Numerous people have claimed to see '23's everywhere (the 23 curse) prior to enormous success and fruitfulness.
  • In many other of Wilson's works (especially The Illuminatus! Trilogy) 23 is given special importance. Many Discordians use this number for any number of purposes.
• 23rdian is a person who constantly witnesses the number 23 in high concentration.

In sports

• The squad number (or jersey number) of various athletes:
  • Don Mattingly's number when he played for the New York Yankees baseball team. It was retired on August 31, 1997.
  • Michael Jordan's jersey number, with the exception of a short period of time when he played for the Chicago Bulls basketball team as well as the Washington Wizards. The number now has special significance throughout sports, especially in basketball. Many athletes wear the number 23 either as a tribute to Jordan or because they would like to "be like Mike." Two examples of this in football (soccer) are David Beckham at Real Madrid and the ex-Arsenal player Sol Campbell.
  • David Beckham's squad number at Real Madrid football (soccer) club, inspired by the aforementioned Jordan.
  • Owen Hargreaves's squad number at FC Bayern Munich, also as a tribute to Michael Jordan.
  • Manchester City F.C. have not assigned the squad number 23 to any player since 2003. This is due to the fact that Marc-Vivien Foé, the player who collapsed and died while playing for Cameroon on June 26 2003, had held this squad number at Manchester City.
  • Chris Drury's jersey number for the Buffalo Sabres which is inspired by childhood hero Don Mattingly.
  • Ryne Sandberg's number when he played for the Chicago Cubs baseball team. It was retired on August 28, 2005.
  • Michael Clarke's number in ODI cricket, passed on from Shane Warne in 2004 after Warne's retirement.
  • Marcus Trescothick, England opening batsman, also wears number 23. He was Shane Warne's 600th test wicket. Shane Warne also wears the number 23 jersey.
  • Lebron James's jersey number for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.
  • Jason Richardson's jersey number for the NBA's Golden State Warriors.
  • Ron Artest's jersey number prior to the 2004-05 season, for the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
  • Julio Lugo's number while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It is his current number with the Boston Red Sox.
  • Devin Hester's number for the Chicago Bears. He became the first player to return a Super Bowl opening kickoff for a touchdown during Super Bowl XLI.
• The number has never been officially retired by any NFL team.
• The number that Adam Rutherford wore for the Minnesota Lightning badminton team. Adam later went on to be the 23rd person inducted into the National Badminton Hall Of Fame.

In other fields

Twenty-three is:

• Voted the luckiest number in a study by the Prescott Surveys
• Among the white pride community, 23 represents the letter W (the 23rd letter of the alphabet) and is used to indicate pride in being of European descent
• In early 20th century United States slang, 23 skiddoo means to exit a place; the origins of the phrase are largely unknown
• Sydney Carton is the 23rd person executed at the end of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
• 23, a German movie about Karl Koch
• Viginti Tres (23 in Latin) is a song on the album 10,000 Days by Tool
• A telegraphers' code meaning "line break"
• When mathematician John Forbes Nash suffered from schizophrenic delusions, he said that Life Magazine had run a cover story of him disguised as Pope John XXIII, as his name was John and his favorite prime number was 23. Nash published a total of 23 scientific articles
• Actor Danny Trejo's name in "Con Air" was Johnny 23.
• The number of people (16 females, 7 males) Neo was to select in order to refound Zion in The Matrix Reloaded
• The Warlock's Motorcycle Club Members are known as Club 23, because the 23rd letter of the alphabet is W.
• A song of the band Jimmy Eat World on their album Futures.
• ASCII character number 23 is ETB, end transmission block.
• The score of a null game in Skat.
• The smallest group of people in which there is more than a 50% chance that 2 people will share the same birthday (day and month, not year)
• In the manga Die höchst fragwürdige Resozialisierung des Wilbert Plumduff oder Die Rückkehr der Robo-Affen some kids whose faces can't be seen wear clothes with this number
• One of the "Lost Numbers" on the television show Lost, along with 4, 8, 15, 16 and 42. According to producers of the show, 23 is the most important of these six numbers. One of the second season episodes of Lost is entitled, since it contains references to, "The 23rd Psalm"
• The standard TCP/IP port number for Telnet connections
• The number of crosses on the hill at the end of the Monty Python film The Life of Brian is 23
• Princess Leia is being held in detention block AA-23 in the Star Wars film "A New Hope"
• The name of a song from the band Project 86
• When Zoidberg upsets the shelf containing the various alternative universes in the Futurama episode "The Farnsworth Parabox", the only visible universe number is 23.
• In The Simpsons, when Homer asks for the bathroom in Burns' house in the episode "Last Exit to Springfield", Burns says it is the 23rd door on the left.
• In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Caesar was stabbed a total of 23 times (in the Arden Edition it is said that he was stabbed 33 times "Never till Caesar's three and thirty wounds"
• Number 23 is recognized as a number of Freetekno culture, often used on decorations, party names, etc.
• In the movie Serendipity during the beginning of the movie, both John and Sarah pick the 23rd floor before "the devil" separates them.
• In the movie Happy Gilmore during the hockey tryout at the beginning of the movie, Happy Gilmore is number 23.
• 2005 December 23 - Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan to Aktau, Kazakhstan crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 23 people
• The animated band Gorillaz have had many references to 23 from clothing to appearances in its music videos.
• Dr Pepper now boasts being an "authentic blend of 23 flavors" [1]
• The Twenty Threes is a secret society at Wake Forest University. The society's flag flew at the Wake Forest v. Liberty game on September 30, 2006.
• AirIndia Flight 182 (Toronto to New Delhi) was bombed in mid-air on June 23 1985 killing all 329 people on board
• Nathan Scott's (James Lafferty) jersey number in the hit show One Tree Hill
• In The Big Lebowski, the Dude and his friends always use Lane 23 at the bowling alley
• In The Passion of the Christ, Jesus is whipped 23 times before he sees Satan in the crowd.
• In Isaac Asimov's short story The Feeling of Power, Myron Aub is asked to multiply the numbers 17 and 23 to demonstrate his powers of calculation
• There are 23 cents (music) in a Pythagorean comma.
• A key member of the Electronic Body Music band Front 242 from Belgium is Richard23.
• Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans formed August 23, 2005.
• In Wayne's World the movie, there is a scene where Wayne and Garth are taken to the apartment of one of the men trying to purchase and exploit their TV show. Garth asks Wayne what floor they're on, to which he replies "23rd."
• Asia Argento has a 23 tattooed on her neck, and is a "23rdian" as defined above.[2]
• The band Yellowcard has a song on their earlier album titled "TwentyThree"
• US Cavalry legend General Custer was promoted to the senior military rank at the age of 23. The soldier was the youngest general in the US army at the time.
• It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the body.
• On average, every 23rd wave crashing to shore is twice as large as normal.
• The human biorhythm is generally 23 days.
• In Die Hard with a Vengeance, the train derails in subway station 23.
• The first song on Side A of The Beatles' first album took 23 takes to record.

• In music, a chord made with all twelve tones would be a 23rd chord. The most basic chord is made with a root, third, and fifth. Continual stacking of thirds (seventh, ninth, eleventh) would result in a 23rd when all twelve tones are used.
• There is a German cigarette brand named Ernte 23
• Alexander Woolcott died on a talkshow discussing Hitlerism on January 23, 1943.
• Vic Morrow and 2 child actors where killed by a helicopter when filming Twilight Zone: The Movie, they died on July 23, 1984.
• Jackie Wilson collapsed on stage and slipped into a coma on January 23, 1983, and died in a hospital January 23, 1984.
• Pro wrestler Owen Hart fell from 90 feet to his death on May 23, 1999.
• In 1993, Varg Vikernes fatally stabbed former friend and bandmate Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth. According to official reports, Euronymous received 23 stab wounds. [3]
• Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew on a Houston, Texas-Dallas/Fort Worth-Toronto, Ontario route. The aircraft on the flight caught fire on June 2, 1983. The fire began in the rear lavatory of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32. 23 of the 41 passengers died.
• In the Suite life of Zack and Cody, there is an episode where Zack and Cody plan to take a $20,000 dollar picture for their mother, they are grounded on the 23rd floor

Miscellaneous

Jim Carrey, in People Magazine, April 17, 2006, page 142, is quoted as saying: "I've [been fixated on] the number 23 for years. It's everywhere. Each parent passes on 23 chromosomes; Earth's axis is at a 23° angle. Psalm 23 is my mantra..." Possibly uncoincidentally, Carrey stars in the thriller The Number 23, which opens February 23, 2007. 23 is sometimes considered the cosmic number of coincidence.

In Super Bowl XLI the average score is 23.

In "Land of the Dead" Slack has a tattoo that says "23" on the back of her neck.

Historical years

23 A.D., 23 B.C., 1923, 2023, etc.

External link

• Article in the British newspaper The Mirror regarding the power of the number 23
• Leagueof27.com Discussion forum on numbers in our lives