16 (number)

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"Sixteen" redirects here. For other uses, see Sixteen (disambiguation)
16 10 6

16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17.

Cardinal 16
sixteen
Ordinal 16th
sixteenth
Numeral system hexadecimal
Factorization 2^4 \,\!
Divisors 1, 2, 4, 8, 16
Roman numeral XVI
Roman numeral (Unicode) XVI, xvi
Binary 10000
Octal 20
Duodecimal 14
Hexadecimal 10
Hebrew ט"ז (Tet Zayin)
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Contents

[edit] In mathematics

Sixteen is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the tiniest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being 1, 2, 4 and 8. It is the fourth power of two. For this reason, 16 was used in weighing light objects in several cultures. The British used to have 16 ounces in one pound, the Chinese used to have 16 langs in one jin. In old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5's and 5 lower beads to represent the 1's, the 7 beads can represent from a hexadecimal digit from 0 to 15 in each column.

Sixteen is the only integer that equals mn and nm, for some unequal integral m and n (m=4, n=2, or vice versa). It has this property because 2^2=2\times2. It is also equal to 2↑↑3, (using Knuth's up-arrow notation).

15 and 16 form a Ruth-Aaron pair under the second definition in which repeated prime factors are counted as often as they occur.

16 is a centered pentagonal number.

16 is the base of the hexadecimal number system, which is used extensively in computer science.

[edit] In science

[edit] Astronomy

  • The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on -2172 April 21 and ended on -874 June 8. The duration of Saros series 16 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 lunar eclipses.

[edit] In religion

  • The 16th day of any Hebrew month is not written with the letters that represent "10" and "6" (י-ו, yodh and vav), because these are two of the letters of the four-letter name of God. Instead, the date is written with the letters representing "9" and "7" (ט-ז, teth and zayin)
  • Many Hebrew-English calendars contain 16 months, covering the months from September (in which Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the Hebrew year, occurs) through December of the following solar year
  • In Hinduism, the supreme Person is said to consist of sixteen parts (Prasna Upanishad 6).
  • According to Khasi mythology, there were originially sixteen deities. Seven of these went down to earth to till the soil, and were separated from the remaining nine in heaven.

[edit] Age 16

  • Sixteen is the minimum age for being allowed an official driver's license in many U.S. states and in Canada. In Australia it is the age one can begin to get a learner's licence.
  • Sixteen is the minimum age for getting an adult job in most states and provinces (as well as, complementarily, for dropping out of school).
  • In America, female sixteen year olds earn the right to privacy laws surrounding OBGYN practices.
  • In the Netherlands it is the legal minimum age for a person to purchase any tobacco product, and certain alcoholic beverages.
  • Sixteen is the age of consent for many jurisdictions around the world.
  • For its "coming of age" signification, this age has inspired the titles of many songs, such as "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful, "Sweet Sixteen", You're Mine", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Sixteen Candles", the last of which was borrowed as the title of a John Hughes movie.

[edit] In other fields

Sixteen frames of images
Sixteen frames of images

[edit] Historical years

16 A.D., 16 B.C., 1916, 2016, etc.

[edit] References