"Scientists and mathematicians have not hesitated to take special note of those occasions when the number 47 arises from nature itself. The claims include these: It takes 47 divisions of one cell to produce the number of cells in the human body. There are 50,847,478 prime numbers less than one billion. The element with the highest conductivity is silver, whose atomic number is 47. A pint is 0.47 liters. The Pythagorean Theorem is Proposition 47 of Euclid's Elements. The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are located 47 degrees apart."
-Excerpted from [ http://www.pomona.edu/Magazine/pcmfl00/1.shtml ]
I might have simply been watching too much "Alias", but the mystery of the number 47 (which appears countless times in the show) is too overt to be ignored. The examples given in the paragraph above are too coincidental - one might even be led to believe the world is designed under the number. Of course, there are other numbers which play bigger roles (like PHI, for example) but a totally unfamiliar number like 47 being special is too much to ignore.
I also read that Caesar uttered the famous phrase "Veni, vidi, vici" in 47 B.C. 47 is a very special prime numbers because a) It is the 15th prime number; b) It is supersingular (not sure what that means - check Wikipedia.com) and c) It is also a safe prime (meaning it is made from the formula 2p+1, where p is another prime number. Safe primes are used in safer encryptions).
Am working hard to find 47 in my everyday life. I'll post any spottings I might get =]
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