47 (number)

47 (forty-seven) is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48.

In mathematics

Forty-seven is the fifteenth prime number, a safe prime, the thirteenth supersingular prime, and the sixth Lucas prime. Forty-seven is a highly cototient number. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form .

It is a Lucas number because its digits appear as successive terms earlier in the series of Lucas numbers: 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47… ; it is also a Keith number.

Forty-seven is a strictly non-palindromic number.

Its representation in binary being 00101111, 47 is a prime Thabit number, and as such is related to the pair of amicable numbers {17296, 18416}.

Forty-seven is a Carol number.

In science

• The atomic number of silver is 47.
• The atomic mass of titanium is 47.

Astronomy

• The 47-year cycle of Mars: after 47 years - 22 synodic periods of 780 days each - Mars returns to the same position among the stars and is in the same relationship to the Earth and Sun. The ancient Mesopotamians discovered this cycle.^[1]
• Messier object M47, a magnitude 4.5 open cluster in the constellation Puppis
• The New General Catalogue object NGC 47,^[2] a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus. This object is also designated as NGC 58.
• The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began in April 1306 BC and ended in May 26 BC.^[3] The duration of Saros series 47 was 1280.1 years, and it contained 72 solar eclipses.
• The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began in July 1275 BC and ended in February AD 258.^[4] The duration of Saros series 47 was 1537.5 years, and it contained 86 lunar eclipses.

As an in-joke

Forty-seven has been the favorite number of Pomona College, California, USA, since 1964. A mathematical proof, written in 1964 by Professor Donald Bentley, supposedly demonstrates that all numbers are equal to 47.^[5] However, Bentley offered it as a "joke proof" to further a popular student research project that listed real and imaginative "47 sightings". Bentley used the invalid proof to introduce his students to the concept of mathematical proofs.^[6] The proof used limits to show that the sum of the two equal sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the base side. Bentley chose forty-seven as the base side, but he could have used any number.

Joe Menosky graduated from Pomona College in 1979 and went on to become one of the story writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Menosky "infected" other Star Trek writers with an enthusiasm for the number 47.^[7] As a result, 47, its reverse 74, its multiples, or combinations of 47 occur surreptitiously in almost every episode of the program and its spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.^[5][8] Forty-seven might be mentioned in dialogue or appear on a computer screen, for example:

• In the TNG episode "Darmok", the computer of the Enterprise reports to have found 47 occurrences of the word "Darmok" in its database.
• In Star Trek Generations, Scotty manages to beam up only 47 El-Aurians before their ship is destroyed by the energy ribbon.
• In the DS9 episode "Whispers", the planet Parada 4 has seven moons.
• In the Voyager episode "Parallax", we learn that the Emergency Medical Holographic Channel is 47 and that the EMH has the experience of 47 individual medical officers.
• In the Voyager episode "Non Sequitur", Harry Kim lives in apartment 4-G, G being the seventh letter of the alphabet. The intentionality of this reference to 47 was confirmed by Brannon Braga, the writer of that episode.^[9]
• In the 2009 film Star Trek, the Enterprise was built in Sector 47 of the Riverside Shipyards, and 47 Klingon ships are said to have been destroyed by Nero's ship, the Narada.

J. J. Abrams, who produced and directed Star Trek, frequently uses the number 47 in his productions, including episodes of his TV series Fringe. In the Season 1 episode "Bad Dreams", aired shortly before the release of Star Trek in theaters, Nick Lane's bulletin board features a large centrally-located sheet of paper with only the number 47 in huge typeface. It recurs in the series, for example 47 minutes being the maximum amount of time for a time chamber in the series to last, and there being exactly 47 shapeshifters. J.J. Abrams continues to incorporate 47 into movies and series he produces and directs. There are many 47's in Fringe, Alias, and recently in Revolution, of which Abrams is a producer. In the Season 1 episode "Soul Train" of the series Revolution, the characters are involved with an old train engine where the engine number happens to be 47.^[10]

Calendar years

• 47 BC
• A.D. 47

Other

• Telephone dialing country code for Norway
• The AK-47, also known as a Kalashnikov rifle, is one of the most widely used military weapons in the world.
• The CH-47 Chinook, a helicopter.
• 47 is the number of the French department Lot-et-Garonne.
• The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are located 47 degrees apart.
• The P-47 Thunderbolt was a fighter plane in WWII.
• 47 is the name of the agent in the Hitman video game series.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 47 (number).

• Frequently Asked Questions about 47 and The 47 Society
• Pomona College's Star Trek Connection
• Star Trek Voyager and the Number 47 - Featurette
• 47 in the Alias fandom (from the All Alias Guide)