4:23 a.m. - 2017-07-18
If there's life on Mars, it'll be just like starting over...
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 3n − 1.
It is a Lucas number. It is also a Keith number because its digits appear as successive terms earlier in the series of Lucas numbers: 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47… ;.
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
47 is the atomic number of silver.
47 is the atomic mass of one of the naturally occurring stable isotopes of titanium.
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.
Messier object M47, a magnitude 4.5 open cluster in the constellation Puppis
The New General Catalogue object NGC 47, a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus. This object is also designated as NGC 58.
In popular culture
Pomona College
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. 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. 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.
Star Trek
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. As a result, 47, its reverse 74, its multiples, or combinations of 47 occur in a large number of episodes of the program and its spin-offs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, usually in the form of dialogue or on-screen labels or computer screens. 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 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.
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 47s in Fringe, Alias, and Revolution. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the thermal oscillator is located in Precinct 47. 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.
2012 U.S. Presidential Election
During the 2012 election, Republican candidate Mitt Romney made a comment claiming that 47 percent of Americans do not pay any income tax. Since the comment potentially sabotaged his chances of winning the election against Barack Obama, the term "47 percent" has been used by critics to describe actions that could potentially damage a political candidate. For example, during the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton's speech labeling half Donald Trump's supporters as "deplorable" was compared by critics to Romney's 47 percent speech.
Pro Era
The Brooklyn-based hip hop collective Pro Era and its late co-founder Jamal Dewar, better known by his stage name Capital Steez, have made references to the number 47 in various songs by members of the group. While in the middle of the production of his debut mixtape AmeriKKKan Korruption, Capital Steez was fixated with the number; he felt that 47 was a perfect expression of balance in the world, representing the tension between the heart and the brain, the fourth and seventh chakra, respectively.
Calendar years
47 BC
AD 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 World War II.
47 is the name of the agent in the Hitman video game series.
There are Forty-seven Ronin in the famous Japanese story.
There are 47 Prefectures of Japan.
