The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-16
ODD NUMBERS.
The Queer Result That They Yield
When Twisted Around a Bit.

London Globe.
Nobody has ever satisfactorily accounted
for the popular Partially for odd numbers.
This is the third time" exclaims Falstaff.
on the occasion of a crisis in his relations
with one of the Merry Wives of Windsor.
II hope good luck lies in odd numbers;
they say there's a divinity in odd numbers.
either in nativity, chance or DEATH" And
it is scarcely necessary to say that the be-
lief is much older than Sir John Falstaff.
Three, seven and nine appear to have been
the favorite numbers all the world over.
The ancients had three fates, three furies
and three graces; Neptune's trident had
three prongs, Jupiters thunderbolt three
forks and Cerberus three hands. An Eng
lish crowd shows its joy by three cheers
on any ordinary occasion, and, when ex-
tremely excited, as, for instance, outside
Mrs. Baden-Powell's house on Mafeking
night, by three times three. We have three
estates of the realm, a man who accepts
bill has three days grace, and three per-
sons congregated together may make q
riot. Shakespeare was well aware that he
must have neither more nor less than three
witches in Macbeth" and that the brin-
died cat must NEW thrice, and our popular
folklore insists upon three merry men,
three blind mice, and three wise men of
GOlndIn. 1nree meals a DAY is the Eng
lishmans usual scale of feeding, and, ii his
drinks run to larger and more indefinite
number, they are at any rate frequently
obtained at the sign of the Three Com
passes, the Three Jolly Sailors, the Three
Bells, the Three Tuns or the Swan with
Three Necks.
Mr.. Barring Gould tells us that this sig
nifcanct three has played havoc with the
royal line of England. According to an
old Norman legend, we were doomed never
to have more than three princes in success
sion on the English throne without suffer
ing a revolution. and the facts square with
this theory in very curious fashion. After
William l, William III and Henry L came
the revolution of Stephen. After Henry
III, Richard l and John We had the in
vasion Of Louis, Dauphin of France, who
claimed the English crown. After Henry
III and Edward l Edward II was de-
and Richard III succeeded, but the latter
was dethroned. After Henry w, Henry
and Henry vi the crown passed to the
ward and Richard III the crown was
won by Henry Tudor. After Henry VII.
Henry VIII and Edward vi came the
Mary and Elizabeth. the crown passed to
the House of Stuart. After James / and
Charles L came the Puritan revolution
invasion of William of Orange. And after
William and Mary and Anne. the crown
passed to the House of Brunswick. Since
that time, happily revolutions in this coun-
try have gone out of fashion
OF a more mystical character than three
Is the figure seven, or, at any rate, it has
larger number Of religious applications
Noah had seven days warning of the COM
ing of the flood; and when it came he took
fowls by sevens and clean beasts by sew
ems into the Ark: the Ark touched on
Mount Aararat In the seventh month, and
after seven days dove was sent out fol-
lowed seven days afterward by another
In Paraoh's dream there were seven fat
and seven lean kline, which Joseph inter-
nrota6 N Of ,@lox \
seven years Of famine. At the destruction
of Jericho. seven priests bore seven trum-
pets seven days, and on the seventh day
they walked around the city seven times
after which the walls fell In the Apoca-
lypse almost everything is seven except
the number of the beast. There are seven
churches. seven golden candlesticks, seven
lamps before seven spirits, the book with
seven seals, the lamb with seven horns and
seven eyes, seven angels with seven seals
seven kings, seven thunders, seven thou
sand slain, the dragon with seven heads
and seven crowns, seven angels bringing
seven plaques and seven Walls of wrath
In merely secular matters seven occurs
frequently enough. We have seven wonders
of the world, seven champions of Christ
endom, seven sleepers, seven wise men,
seven planets, seven deadly sins seven
ages of man, and our ordinary leases are
made for seven or multiple of seven
years.
But however mystically significant three
and seven may be, they cannot lay claim
to any such peculiarities as are the prop
erty of the figure nine. That the ancients
had nine Muses.. nine rivers in the internal
regions. a hydra with nine heads and nine
gods for Lars Porsena to swear by; or
that in modern times a cat has nine lives
that 1t takes nine tailors to make a man.
or that possession is nine points of the
law, are facts that pale into insignificance
after one has once sat down with pencil
and paper TO investigate some of the spe-
ciaI peculiarities of the figure nine For
instance II you multiply nine by any other
number you will find that the figures COM
posing the product. when added together
Will always amount TO nine. Thus:
9x2=1s and1+
9x3-27 and 2+7=9,
9x4= 36 and 3+6=9.
and so on to any extent On arriving at
eleven times nine we find what appears to
be an exception. for the digits of 80 ~ IS
But it will be observed that eighteen is a
multiple of nine, and, moreover, that the
figures composing IL add up to nine. An
other popularity of this figure is discov-
cred by taking any number OF two figures
of which the first figure is of greater value
than the second, reversing these figures
and then subtracting the number thus OBJ
tanned from the original number. What
ever figures We may take, the result will
always be nine or some multiple of nine.
The smallest possible number of two fig
ures OF which the first figure is larger than
the second is q. Reverse the figures and
we get II. Subtract u from Il and the
remainder is 3. The largest similar num-
Der Is IS. Reverse these and we get 50. Sub
tract 50 from 9S. and again the remainder is
found to be g.
Or let US take case In which nine COM
bines with the mystic seven. The number
Go is not Invisible by nine But If we add
seven TO II. either In front, when il makes
765. or In the middle when IL makes 675.
at the end. when IL makes 657. we shall
find that every one OF these numbers Is
divisible by nine. Ii is not every number
which thus be dealt with. and the
reader may find an evenings entertainment
In trying 10 puzzle out the reason why. An
exa = lie of a higher number may be given
by way OF little assistance: S96.573 is not
divisible by nine, but II the mystic seven
be added to IL. either in front. where Ii
raises the amount by seven millions. or I'm
oh ana 81 80.