GAMES
A triskaidekaphobic may fearthe number 13, but we have reason to celebrate
How many
pennies do you need to make a stack as tall or taller than a penny set
on its edge? Most
people will say nine or ten, but you must actually use 13
pennies.
We started thinking about
the number 13 last February when we got a letter from
Monte Zerger, a mathematician at
Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. "The
thirteenth anniversary of Omni in 1991 will
be particularly auspicious because
ninety-one is the sum of the numbers one through
thirteen," wrote Zerger, who
along with Dan Shine of Cincinnati served as our numerological
consultant this
month. Zerger also pointed out that the alphabet's middle letters-M (the
thirteenth letter from the beginning of the alphabet) and N (the thirteenth
letter from the
end of the alphabet)-are also the middle letters in the name
Omni-enclosed by the middle
vowels. Omni's logo even contains a hidden portent:
Rearrange the four shapes to read no.
13.
Mathematically, 13 is a fascinating number. The first "teen" number, it is both
a prime
number (the sixth, after 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11) and a Fibonacci number, in
which each number
of the series is the sum of the previous two. (13 is the
seventh, after 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and
8.) The number 13 is also the first "emirp," a
prime number that turns into a different
prime number when reversed (31).
Elsewhere in mathematics, Euclid's Elements are contained
in 13 books. There
are 13 Archimedean polyhedrons. And a cube has 13 axes of symmetry:
Three go
through opposite faces, four through diagonally opposite vertices, and six
through
opposite edges.
Other 13-related facts include 13 cards in a suit (hearts, diamonds,
spades, and
clubs) in every standard deck of playing cards. In music, an octave consists
of
13 notes.
But while the recipient of a baker's dozen is certainly fortunate, is it wise
to
celebrate when you're 13 years old? We're not superstitious, but just to be safe
consider
this anniversary issue of Omni the start of our fourteenth year.
The number 13, some
people believe, seems to have almost supernatural
powers. And those who suffer from
triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13,
won't reserve a seat in the thirteenth row of
an airplane, eat at a table
seating 13 people, or rent a room on the thirteenth floor
(although few, if any,
hotels and office buildings officially have a thirteenth floor),
The
superstition about 13 people at a dinner table supposedly harks back to the
Last Supper, as
told in the Gospel according to Saint John. Jesus Christ and his
12 apostles gathered for
the last time before he was arrested and eventually
executed. When Judas, the apostle who
betrayed Christ, left, the thirteenth
chair remained empty.
While the number 13 has been
associated with Judas and the Last Supper, it also
makes an unlucky appearance in other
cultures. In Norse mythology, for example,
12 gods were invited to a dinner party. The
god of mischief, Loki, crashed the
party, and during the affair one of the guests was
killed.
There's certainly no doubt that the number 13 has its dark side. There are
traditionally
13 witches in a coven, 13 steps on a gallows, and 13 coils of rope
in a hangman's noose.
And the thirteenth card of the tarot deck represents
death, reminiscent of the Black Death,
the plague that swept across Europe in
the 1300's.
Superstition also can affect history.
During the late Fifties, the Colombiana,
a group of Italian experts on the life of
Christopher Columbus, reviewed all the
documents related to the explorer's historic arrival
in the Americas. They
concluded that Columbus actually landed in the New World on October
13, 1492.
The man entrusted with Christopher Columbus's log and papers may have
deliberately
changed the date to October 12 to avoid the evil omen of the number
13.
But 13 has not
always been considered evil or unlucky. The ancient Egyptians
considered death, the
thirteenth stage of earthly life, as the transition to
eternal life. For them, death was a
transformation, not an ending. And unlike
the Last Supper, the thirteenth chair at King
Arthur's Round Table was a seat of
honor, reserved for the knight who would find the Holy
Grail.
The number is also significant in American history. The 13 original colonies
are
represented everywhere, from the 13 red and white stripes on the flag to the
13 steps on
the pyramid in the Great Seal, which appears on the back of a dollar
bill.
THIRTEEN QUIZ
The
following questions relate to the number 13.
1. In addition to the steps of the pyramid,
the number 13 is represented in many
ways on a dollar bill, some of them intentional,
others not. How many can you
find?
2. What 13-sided polygon occurs in the natural world?
3. What is the most abundant metallic element in the earth's crust?
4. What 13-member group
exports petroleum?
5. What is the difference between the Julian and the Gregorian
calendars?
6. What heroine was proud of her 13-inch waist?
7.In what fictional tale do 13
dwarfs take a collective journey?
8. Why is it ironic that Friday the thirteenth is
considered unlucky?
9. The first permanent English settlement in the New World was
established on
May 13, 1607. What significant event occurred 132 years later? And 132
years
after that?
10. What novel begins, "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks
were
striking thirteen"?
11. What unlucky moon mission exploded in 1970?
12. What is
significant about 132 and 312?
13. What composer, born in 1813, composed 13 operas and has
13 letters in his
name
ANSWERS
1. There are 13 letters in the motto ANNUIT COEPTIS above the
pyramid; 13 stars
above the eagle's head; 13 stripes on its shield; and 13 letters in the
motto E
PLURIBUS UNUM, on the ribbon in its beak. The eagle also holds 13 war arrows on
one side and a peace branch with 13 olives and 13 leaves on the other side.
There are 13
beads in the decorative "rattlesnake tail" chains on the outer
sides of the Great Seal.
And the date, in Roman numerals, 1776, is printed
directly opposite 1789, the only other
date on every dollar bill-in the green
Treasury seal next to Washington's portrait. The
difference between the two
dates is 13 years.
2. Viewed from outside the solar system,
Earth's moon travels around the sun,
tracing a path that resembles a 13-sided polygon with
rounded corners.
3. The thirteenth element, aluminum.
4. 13 member nations make up OPEC, the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries.
5. The Julian calendar currently lags 13 days
behind the Gregorian calendar and
will remain so until the year 2100. Then the difference
will become 14 days.
6. Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.
7. In The Hobbit, by J.R.R.
Tolkien, 13 dwarfs escort Bilbo Baggins from the
Shire to the Lonely Mountains.
8. The
thirteenth of the month is more likely to fall on a Friday than on any
other day of the
week. Our calendar repeats itself, exactly, every 400 years.
During each 400-year period,
the thirteenth of the month occurs on Friday 688
times.
9. 1607 + 169 = 1776, the year of
the American Revolution. 1776 + 169 1945, the
year World War 11 ended, the year the first
atomic bomb was dropped, and the
year Franklin Delano Roosevelt died, 13 years after he was
first elected
President of the United States.
10. George Orwell's 1984.
11. Apollo 13.
12. 132
= 169; 312 = 961, the reverse of 169.
13. Richard Wagner.