Pick A Number

A world-wide survey launched by British math writer Alex Bellos asked people to name their favorite number.  After over 40,000 replies, he reports that the overwhelming favorite number was Seven, followed in order by Three, Eight and Four.

Bellos, whose new book is entitled The Grapes of Math, claimed he received over 30,000 responses within a few weeks of launching the survey, with total responses currently standing at 44,000. Out of all the submissions, almost half of the votes cast were for the numbers between one and ten.

The least favorite number turned out to be 110, which was the lowest number to receive no votes.

The writer suggested that the reason for seven’s popularity is its prevalence in global culture, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, to the existence of seven days in a week.

Bellos said he started the survey because of his belief that people have strong feelings about numbers, something he learned from giving talks about math in schools, colleges and festivals. “I am always asked for my favorite number – it’s guaranteed this question will come up,” he said.

I’m not surprised that 7 was the first choice – if asked to pick a number between 1 and 10, I would probably pick 7 more times than not, and 3 would be my second choice. 

My favorite number, though, is probably 17, followed by 23.  I guess that part of their appeal in that, like 7 and 3, they are prime numbers, not equally divisible by any smaller number except one, but that doesn’t completely explain their attraction.  I like, and I’m prone to use, 17 and 23 because they are believable numbers.

If I’m having an argument, or just spinning a yarn, they somehow sound more valid than 18 or 25, for example. 

So if I tell you “There are seventeen different ways to…”  or “Twenty-three percent of the…”  chances are good that I don’t know the actual figures and just pulled the number out of thin air.