The Enigma of 137: Science's Most Magical Number (2024)

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The Enigma of 137: Science's Most Magical Number? ›

The Metaphysical Significance of 137

Since the early 1900s, physicists have postulated that the number could lie at the heart of a grand unified theory, relating theories of electromagnetism, quantum mechanics and, especially, gravity. 1/137 was once believed to be the exact value of the fine-structure constant.

Simply put, pi is weird. Mathematicians call it a "transcendental number" because its value cannot be calculated by any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root extraction.

The idea is quite simple, if you don't use math to explain it. 137 is the odds that an electron will absorb a single photon. Protons and electrons are bound by interactions with photons. So when you get 137 protons, you get 137 photons, and you get a 100% chance of absorption.

The number 'seven' is widely used throughout Revelation, including in reference to the seven churches, seven bowls, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders, Seven Spirits of God, seven stars, seven lampstands, seven eyes and horns of the Lamb of God, seven heads and diadems of the dragon, and seven heads of the ...

Some believe that 42 holds a special place in the mathematical structure of the universe or is related to the fundamental laws of physics. Others think it's just a coincidence, and that the number's popularity is due to its inclusion in science fiction works like "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

It is 1729. Discovered by mathemagician Srinivas Ramanujan, 1729 is said to be the magic number because it is the sole number which can be expressed as the sum of the cubes of two different sets of numbers.

A Googolplex is considered to be the biggest number in the world. It is written as 10^googol.

For example, 137 can be broken down into 1 and 137 since it has no other positive integer divisors except itself!

The number 137 is prime and therefore its factors are only the numbers 1 and 137 itself. Hence, it has only one prime factor that is the number itself, i.e. 137.

Is 137 a prime number? ›

Yes, 137 is a prime number. The number 137 is divisible only by 1 and the number itself. For a number to be classified as a prime number, it should have exactly two factors. Since 137 has exactly two factors, i.e. 1 and 137, it is a prime number.

The number 137 in words is represented by One Hundred Thirty-Seven.

The fine-structure constant α is of dimension 1 (i.e., it is simply a number) and very nearly equal to 1/137. It is the "coupling constant" or measure of the strength of the electromagnetic force that governs how electrically charged elementary particles (e.g., electron, muon) and light (photons) interact.

There are an infinite amount of numbers. There are also many different kinds of numbers. Some types of numbers are: rational, irrational, real, imaginary and prime. A number can belong to more than one group.

The fine-structure constant α is of dimension 1 (i.e., it is simply a number) and very nearly equal to 1/137. It is the "coupling constant" or measure of the strength of the electromagnetic force that governs how electrically charged elementary particles (e.g., electron, muon) and light (photons) interact.

In some Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. This representation may be justified either through gematria, by counting the letter values of the Greek transliteration of Jesus' name, or as an opposing value to 666, the number of the beast.

The number 1 symbolized unity and the origin of all things, since all other numbers can be created from 1 by adding enough copies of it. For example, 7 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. The number 2 was symbolic of the female principle, 3 of the male; they come together in 2 + 3 = 5 as marriage.