Life Math Podcast
Hosts: Iskren Vankov and Iliya Valchanov.
Get on the email list: lifemathpodcast.substack.com
Life Math Podcast
#7 Numberphilia Showdown: What is the Best Number?
***Season Finale***
Both hosts are ex-Math competitors.
In this episode, though, the numbers are the ones competing.
Each host picks several numbers and makes a case for or against them.
At the end, Iskren and Iliya democratically vote and determine the best number ever.
And you really want to hear this.
Why?
Well, some numbers contribute more to humanity than others. You just have to know which ones and why.
More importantly, imagine that your favorite number is an absolute buls**t of a number. You cannot let others laugh at you for not knowing this beforehand.
No matter if a numberphile or a numberphobe - get your number facts straight!
This is the Life Math Podcast - Season 1 Finale.
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Whoever's listening is literally thinking. Right at this point, after a couple of those episodes, do these guys even know what a podcast is how it's supposed to be. Like
Iliya:It's a game show
Iskren:A game show for real
Iliya: Life Math:the game, show
Intro Music:Life math. A podcast indescribably tangled unnecessarily complex. So bad that it's good Life math.
Iliya:Welcome everybody. This is our last episode of season one. Of course it has a completely new format and it is basically a game show. We're going to have a competition about which number is the best in the past Iskren and I would have these brief discussions. About which number is actually the best. And by number, we usually mean digits because numbers that have more than one digit is basically made up in a way from digits.
Iskren:Like they participate in the competition, they just lost bad.
Iliya:Yeah. In this game show, we are gonna take the numbers until 10 inclusive and we are gonna compare them and we're gonna root for them, or we're gonna bash them because they're bad numbers. And by the end of the show, we want to have the definite winner, the undisputed champion of which number is actually the best. Many cultures have had this discussion before, you know, you have strong competitors like 0 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, 4 5, They all have their strengths and weaknesses. And now we're going to explore them. The show is going to work like this. There are several rules first, no more than five minutes per number. Now some numbers don't even deserve one minute of this discussion, but there are others will deserve much more, but we have to maintain ourselves. So this is rule number one, no more than five minutes per number rule. Number two, we're going to divide. We're going to split the numbers between ourselves. I'm going to pick five or six numbers. Maybe five Iskren's going to pick another five and then we can maybe discuss the last number together. The one, the odd one left whatever it is,
Iskren:an air of mystery.
Iliya:Finally, either of us can choose whether to root for the number that we've picked or to bash it real hard.
Iskren:It, could be somewhere in between. It could be somewhere in between to be fair.
Iliya:It could be somewhere. No, man, it's not going to be in. between.
Iskren:Yeah, this is a ruthless battle actually. Also it's interesting at this point, everybody listening definitely has thought, well, obviously the number X is the best number ever. And the number Y is the worst number ever. Like everybody has a favorite and a least favorite number. Anyway, let's get into it.
Iliya:Please guys. Pick your favorite number and let's see if it makes the cut. In the beginning, we're gonna split the numbers. And actually, I have this piece of paper. So I'm writing down all the numbers from zero to 10, all the participants in this competition, and now we're going to start picking them. So, okay, which number do you want to present?
Iskren:I am going to start with the number eight, I pick eight.
Iliya:You pick eight. Wow.
Iskren:Spoiler alert this going to be the harshest bash you've seen.
Iliya:Okay. I'm going to pick the number six.
Iskren:Ooh. We have a strong contender six. I'm going to pick four.
Iliya:I'm going to present. Number two, your turn
Iskren:K, I pick seven.
Iliya:I was thinking about picking it. Okay. I'm going to pick number five.
Iskren:Okay, I'm going to pick one
Iliya:expected. Okay. Uh, no, I'm going to get the zero
Iskren:zero. Okay, Okay. I'm going to take the three,
Iliya:okay. Take The three and
Iskren:Why do we speak as if this make sense?
Iliya:Okay. I'm going to pick number nine. And then number 10 is the odd one left, even though it's not odd.
Iskren:Alright, there you go.
Iliya:let's start from number one.
Iskren:Whoo-whoo-whoo! Give it up for ONE!
Iliya:Number one. Number one has been Isus choice and Isus going to present it. We're going to be discussing it for five minutes. In the beginning, he's going to have the opportunity to present it, to root for it or to bash it. And I will have my opportunity to contradict his strong points. Yeah. So why do you think number one is the best number?
Iskren:All right. So actually number one, I think is the perfect example of those numbers. that you can both root for and bash bad, not every one. So number one, such a strong contender for best number ever, ever Listen. You always start counting from one. 1, 2, 3, every kid knows 1, 2, 3. How old are you? I'm one year old Its the best number, in this regard. So all counting starts from one then for any other number to be defined in those more abstract, pure math senses, you define all the numbers by. extensions of one. So say two is just one plus one, et cetera. So all other numbers are generated by one through addition, separately for multiplication --its the unit of multiplication Meaning that any number of multiplied by one is itself. So its this pivotal number in addition and multiplication and counting and everything Its just an amazing number. Another point for it. Think about the rankings. You know, you, for example, you give points to a bunch of people. Like, it's a, some race results or like, teams in some tournament you give them points and in the end you, do you make a ranking of them? number one is the winner because it's the top. So number one is such a clear winner that this leads it to its downfall. What I mean its just too strong of a number one, has everything going for it. So it can't pick it as best number. It's just boring. It's too obvious. It's the obvious choice. Everything is going well for one. So we cannot pick it. It's not edgy in any way. It's just so omnipresent that it's boring. So that's my preview of one. What do you think?
Iliya:I didn't want to pick one because I think it's so omnipotent that it's unfair to pick it, you know? So shame on you for picking one. Uh, yeah. So it's a, as you said, such a clear winner of everything that, we, don't want to root for it. It's like, the joke of each and then better than before him. So I can tell you another good one. So what is super cool about one, in my opinion is that, you always have this discussion is a number of prime. Is it not prime? and So on? And then one is neither. So to me, it's so cool to be out of this discussion. And I find it super odd to be a one.
Iskren:Yeah. Even in philosophy, I'm thinking about the ancient Greeks 500 BC, Heraclites talking about the one and how everything is the one and et cetera, it's literally winning at everything. So it cannot be our winner. Yeah. Basically one wins at every possible competition we can think of. So it loses our competition just to introduce some sort of fairness, in the universe. Okay. Enough about one, I think it's time for your presentation of number two.
Iliya:So number two, number two, give it a for number two guys. Whoop whoop whoop. Number two is an amazing number. Arguably, one of the best terminals there are it's in top 10, for sure. First of all, number two is the first real number in this competition. So we know that one is too cool for everything. So two is kind of fair to, exist kind of fair, to make sense of this numerical system that we've chosen. And it's actually the first number after one. So what is two, two is simply twice as much as one. So now two is also the first prime number and, you know, prime numbers are very cool. Every mathematician ever is fascinated by prime numbers. Two is the first prime number they are ever introduced to. So it's kind of what got them into prime numbers. If you think about it, number two, two is also even, or other prime numbers are odd. Another one, very strong for number two. Is that computer science as a whole uses two as a base. it is derivative from the fact that zero and one are before it, but it's still two. And you have, when you, say about 1 gigabyte, it's basically 1024 megabytes, which is two to the power of 10 and all of these computer science things. They're all based on number two. It's very hard to make this point, but I have to make it. What else? So a tiny, problem with number two, is that when you write number two with the Roman numerals, it's basically one and one so it's a bit clumsy. It doesn't have its own sign. And if you take the Arab numbers, Arabic numbers, not sure. The ones that most of us are using probably it's one of the uglier ones. So I don't really like the symbol for number two. But nonetheless, it has very strong fundamentals guys. Number two is one of the strongest competitors in this game. it is just, beautiful. how it makes one fade a bit.
Iskren:Okay. Okay. So I got up to this description of two that kind of, when you have just one in your system, you've only reached one. You haven't really introduced addition as a concept whereas two is the first number that shows what addition is. You know, you have one, just one, and then it shows you how one, and one, you can create something It shows how we can combine numbers through addition to create larger numbers. So once you have one. And two, you have kind of the recipe to make larger numbers through addition. So that's pretty cool. That's a very cool point for two. So overall, I don't have much to add about two. It's just a very good number it also gives the whole, it starts the whole row of even numbers. So it shows kind of introduces us to the canvas, what it is it to be even, and then the whole infinite line of even numbers. So two is pretty strong.
Iliya:Yes, indeed. It is. Number two is basically a definition of being even. So every other even number is determined by the fact that to exist and could be divided by two,
Iskren:not just that, odd numbers. are then defined as you know, not even. So they're also defined by the number two. So two defines both odd and even numbers
Iliya:Strong points, strong points. So, so far, if we had to Cut our show short. And if you had to rank them, number one, number two, would they be one and two? Oh very good they're very good team. Two, and one. Are you ready for the next one?
Iskren:It seems to be time for my three.
Iliya:Or would you like some break before you introduce three or you're ready for it?
Iskren:Oh, what is this? Three's breaking onto? The stage three is carrying a metal chair, three, just slumped two of the rig and is making its way for best number of our row. Okay. What can we say about three, three is pretty cool in the fallen way. You know, we saw one being the first odd number two being the first even number and also being the first prime number. So what is three, three shows? that theres Something else, something different because two was built by just adding one and one together, but then, you know, adding two and two together is, four. So what is three? It shows that in this recipe of addition that we're learning about now, it shows that you can combine different members. You know, because so far, if we've reached only two in our row, we know that there exists a one and we know that we can add two identical items. Two ONES to make a two, which makes addition super boring. It only allows you to count as one plus one plus one plus one. Whereas introducing three as one, plus two actually shows that oh, addition works for different objects as well. And that kind of makes addition meaningful before that, addition is kind of boring. Just one plus one plus one. So that's what three does now. Afterwards three becomes super cool. See a bit down the line. Because two and three are those building blocks for multiplication. But overall, as we'll see, when we get to six, two and three are actually very similar, two or three are the two faces of the same coin, the two sides of the same coin. So three is very cool. And one last point, just one closing point, you know how you said when you write with Arabic numerals TWO, it's kind of, not the prettiest of numbers. It's not the most clean of numbers. Three super beautiful to write Its very clean to write. The three Its very recognizable. It's super clean. So three is a winner. Three is a better two. That's my, take on three.
Iliya:I must agree that. three is a very good number. Something I want to add is that three has a lot of culture backing it up. You know, every king has three songs. Every king has three rings and every king has also three daughters. Every dragon comes in like with three heads or whatever, Khaleesi from game of Thrones, has three dragons as well. And you know, three is a very strong number in Christianity. You have like the three faces. You have God, his son and the holy spirit Its the holy Trinity.
Iskren:I just realized sort of in trouble, but I just realized the best part about three. I didn't want to say it. I did a very poor job of presenting. It Its the best number for the following reason we live in a 3d space. Everything is three-dimensional. And what's important about this as well. Is that kind of on a similar, but separate line three points? Make a triangle which defines a surface. Right? So to define a surface, you need exactly three points, no fewer, no more. And they just make three very, very special. for our universe, for our reality, especially
Iliya:Cant argue with that. Cant argue with that.
Iskren:at the end of this intro to THREE, we just got to add this message. This broadcast has been brought to you by 3veta.com
Iliya:Is it time for another commercial break? I knew the three managed to bribe you. Oh, okay. Oh, I can hear the bells. The bells ringing the holy trinity. This is the stamp of approval. That three is the best number there is.
Iskren:This is the omen we're looking for now. Literally the Catholic church has said yes, son three is the number to choose. we can pause actually right now for it goes on for one minute and it's very loud,
Iliya:but why doesn't it go for three minutes?[bells tolling] There's one more point. I want to add for three. So sorry that I am such a devoted follower of three, every good book sequence or every good movie sequence. It always comes in threes. It's either one or three, but the good ones, they come, up in threes in trilogies. So a trilogy is very good. that's why this is another reason why three is good. So one thing on its own is very good. Two things. If they come up together and two of them are good, it may be a coincidence, but if three of them are good, it's a pattern. So three defines a pattern and it's the first number which shows that something is not random. And that's why I think three super cool
Iskren:Its actually related to a topic that I absolutely love just by itself as a topic. I wrote my admission essay to I think, Cambridge on it, which is error correction codes and super-relevant in quantum computation in particular, but also in just regular Computation and communication, and is the cost of that. if we two are somehow communicating with a Telegraph, like I'm just sending you zero, zero, ones. but if the connection is a bit untrustworthy, like if it drops, if it corrupts base, like, I sent you a zero, but there's a small chance I shall receive a one, because it got corrupted. How do we protect against this non-fidelity of the physical implementation? there's different strategies And deep, most basic strategy ever, which especially for classical computers, non-core dot computers work super well is just the repetition code, which is, if you've got to send a bit, send it three times. And then the receiver receives three bits and takes a majority vote, and you always get, at least two of them will be the same. So you take, this as the correct answer and the chance that all three of them got or okay. The chance that at least two of them got corrupted gets very, very low. So it's basically negligible. So yeah, the most basic repetition code error correction code is the triple
Iliya:I have to support the two here. So two is a pair. TWO introduces a pair while three introduces a majority. that's something too to sink in. Like do you want to be democratic like the two, or do you want to take decisions fast? Like a 3,
Iskren:4, 4, 4. Okay. What do we have for four, four very cool number for many reasons. It is two plus two. So, how two we said two is very strong. Two has a lot of things going well for it. two is a very good number. Now think of four it's, everything two, but better. It's two plus two. It's two times two. It's in every way flexing on two, like there's no tomorrow it's an amazing number. And also in, those mythologies of spirituality and stuff that you were saying about three, four is also there, but in a different way, all of those kind of tables, you know, if you just draw a plus sign, essentially you're making a table with four cells and this is such a powerful object. in just thinking about stuff, whenever you're making some sort of analysis, you just make kind of a small two-by-two table, and that said you have four options. You have a lot of expressive part modeling in two. what else can we say about four. Something negative, actually, that has always bothered me for me. You know how you said it for, TWO the way it's written in Arabic numbers. It's kind of, not very pretty. This has always bothered me for four. I think four is the worst number to write. Not just that it's not very uniform how you write it because a three--everywhere in the world, you write three, the exact same way Four? some people write it, like a course, like a triangle with a leg on the right side. Some people write it like, open-ended to the top. People write FOUR various ways.
Iliya:Some people write it like a glass,
Iskren:like a glass. Yeah. It's a good way to say four. doesn't even have, you know, it's such a fundamental digit and it's already just so overlooked. It doesn't even have a single unified way to write it to depict it. That is just, offensive. You know, it's just sad for the four. He has a lot of potential it's twos. Bigger brother who has everything that two has and disrespected by not unifying the way to write four. I think four is underrepresented,
Iliya:the Romans, they also did not agree how to write four. So that's either the number one, four times, or it's like one-five, which is basically five minus one. I'm really not sure how to explain this on a podcast, but there is controversy to how to write four even before it's cursed, man.
Iskren:Yeah. So four is just like, it's very, very tough. It seems for humanity to decide how to write the four, even though it's such a powerful number. And also the first square is introduced to the cost of the squares. Now there could be an argument that one is the first square, because one-times-one equals one, but this is a classic one. Like, come on. How boring are you? to Exemplify being a square by being the square yourself. That's such a one move, you know, that's why I think four is the first true square. Okay. I think that's my overview of four. What do you think?
Iliya:Very strong competitor, very strong. Several things I have to add. So first is the second even number. It shows this kind of pattern of even numbers. So if one and three were odd numbers, two and four are even numbers. it kind of gives, a hint to, two, like exemplifying even numbers. And it does it in a spectacular way. It's like two posts, two, two times two, as you said, it's a square Its the first number, which is not one or not prime. So how do you code these numbers? It's
Iskren:composite numbers, composite numbers, I think So
Iliya:Composite numbers! yeah. So four is the first composite number. So it basically shows, introduces this concept of we can build new numbers by multiplying numbers that we have already had. And this is the fundamental in your idea, right? So far, we're just like adding stuff like, oh three, you're so cool. I can add two different numbers and I can reach you, but, four is like, you can multiply two different numbers and you, can have a whole new number with so many different properties. And the fact that it's a square,
Iskren:oh wait, now you can multiply the same number so far though. Sorry to interrupt
Iliya:Oh yeah, but one times one we already discussed. It's like non-negotiable two times two it's. four.
Iskren:Yeah, but it's too much playing the same number, right?
Iliya:Yeah. one has infiltrated you. one is like, I'm here and I'm there and I'm everywhere, but not in four. A four as well, but four could be something else and it's two by two
Iskren:So overall pretty cool. It's the first time weve defined a real proper square. Yeah. Okay. Let's go. Number four. Are you ready to present five? I'm waiting for five at the door just to bash it. No, it's going to be one step into the ring and I'll smash five.
Iliya:Okay. Crowd. Are you ready for number five? Number five is the first number after three, which is odd. It is the third number after two and three. With just prime. it could be basically divided by itself. And one is a prime number. It could be reached by addition in some ways. And overall that's everything, which is interesting about five. So five brings nothing new to the table. If we assume that three makes a pattern. Yeah. Five is the third prime number. Good job. Five. You just reintroduced prime numbers in a stupid way. Now some of you are going to be like, oh, five, is such a nice number. It's so cool. It's like 25 cents. It's like $5. It's it has such a good ring to it And, yes, it does. Five has a great ring to it. Five is a very, very good number when talking about stuff like I don't give 5 cents about you or something. like, this. Or you can make stuff up with five, but let me tell you something. It's all because we are living in this decimal world where five is just half of 10. So it's like middle ground of all numbers. This is the only thing remarkable about five. There is nothing else. If we were living in some hexadecimal system, it would be the same in the middle and it will tip all the cool stuff that five is introducing right now. Cool stuff in quotation marks, of course, because. five? you're nothing, man. Five, you suck?
Iskren:What a, burn for five. I just got to say, like, I don't want to kill it. Like literally, your description of five? The only thing it invoked in me is the realization for another reason why four is cool, like five or so subjugated by four I even Forgot about it while you're describing it. I just realized that so five is prime, right? And then two and three were prime. One doesn't count because it's this special category. and So four is the first non prime number. Because up until four being prime is not the weird one. It's the only one. And four is the first non prime and five. What does it do? It goes back to prime list. We just discovered not being prime, which is cart composite. And you decide to go back to being prime. What an APR five,
Iliya:five man, five. It makes me angry man, You know why it makes me angry? I'm going to give you another reason, so far we said that two has the worst visual representation, right? Well, once you look two in the mirror, it's five.
Iskren:Five is like a lazy number five just kept on being prime even after this cart compositeness. five is just kind of an upside weird TWO When you write it, five is just in the shadow of 10. Anyway, five is just a bad number. the only thing going for it, which I can't. Really put my finger on what's going on. There is this whole thing with like teams being teams of five in some games, it just works really well. Like I'm thinking computer games. So often it's a party of five people, like in MMRORGPs you always have like a tank, a healer, and three DPS people. And in MOBAs like Dota and league of legends, you always have like three lanes with five players. So there's something cool about five it's kind of a psychological about us as humans, but not sure what it is,
Iliya:I will, tell you what it is. So we have that one is like the solitary number. Then we have two, which is a pair three, which introduces the majority and four introduces two pairs. So it's extra cool super cool for this thing. Like you have four people you have two pairs and then you can arrange them in different ways. So you have a total of six pairs, six. Unique pairs. Right, Yeah. Is that true?
Iskren:Well, yes, it is. It is true. Yeah. Yeah.
Iliya:Four times three divided by two. Yeah. So you can mix and match the people in so many ways with four people and then everybody's happy and everything is cool. And then you have five. Why these games work in five because it breaks, this you can be two and two. You can be one by one. You have to make some weird mix. So there is something strange going on and you're talking about defensive change or as we called it Dota. So if you're talking about Dota, there are three lanes. So three, why? Because it's a really cool number, man. Three, you have three lanes. And then they're like, okay. So let's see how we can. break this and make the game more interesting. Let's make five players play it and it just makes it a bit strange, with five players, because you always have two players sticking out somewhere and they have to look for places to be, and so on.
Iskren:Which introduces the complexity into those games, right? Because there's three players, three lanes. There's no free people.
Iliya:Yeah. Yeah. Because five fits very badly into everything.
Iskren:So literally it's used because it doesn't fit well fucking five rounds. Let's just forget about five.
Iliya:Yeah. So five would five be would five? Make it in the top 10? I don't think so. I don't think five deserves spot.
Iskren:It seems like it's time for your take on six. It's a great number six is a strong contender
Iliya:Okay guys. Welcome to the show. Of the six, so six. Why, the show of the six? Because I only wanted to make this episode so I can introduce six. Everybody needs to know about six, six is the best number there is, except for like several other numbers, but six is so cool. I'll start from the obvious one. Six is two times three. Why is this cool? Well, we know that two is very cool. We know that three is very cool and there are different elements. And so far when we try to multiply stuff, we try two by two. We tried every number by one, and we found out it's useless. And then we have two by two, which is four. Then the first time we try to multiply two numbers, which are not one is two times three and gives six. So six is the first number. Which is composed of multiplication of two different numbers, which are playing fair. Think about this. We know two is very cool. We know three is very cool Now six has many, many of those good sides about them. First of all, it's even like a tool. You can divide it by many different numbers. You can divide by one by two by three by six. Now you can divide it by four different things for some of you. It may, be common knowledge, but it was this guy Euler. He invented this function Phi. Eulers Phi. It was very cool because it showed basically the coolness of each number when it comes to dividers. Whats your Phi -one is one, because it could only be divided by 1, Five two is two, because it could be divided by one and two. Five three is two again, because it could be divided by one and three. Five four is three. That's why four was so cool by the way, because it could be divided by one, two and four. Very interesting. And then we had five, it was a very dumb number because as every other prime number five is a two it's divided only by itself. And by one. And then we have six. If I have six, its four. It could be divided by one by two by three and by six, imagine how cool is this? You have a table of six people and you can divide it by one. So everybody could be together. You can have three pairs of two people or two pairs of three people, or you can have everybody on their own. There's so many different scenarios, so many different things you can do. it's, unimaginable. Have You ever heard of this thing a dozen and you know, a dozen is 12 people and 12 is very cool because very similar to six in all these manners, because it could be divided by 2, 3, 4, and so on. So it's a bit, it's very cool, but it's too big, right? it becomes it goes outside of the scope and six half a dozen, like it's not, a coincidence guys. Six is the, ultimately cool number. Whenever you have to do stuff with other people, there should be six people, six pairs of stuff. You buy your, cutlery. And it comes in a pair of six. You have 6, forks, 6, knives, 6 spoons. This is no coincidence. Six is the ultimate number for humanity. And I have nothing against six. Okay. There's one thing that I thought about. just now. You can't have a majority vote when you have six people, but you know, nobody's perfect and we should totally support six for the win,
Iskren:but you can have two majority votes because it's two times three,
Iliya:indeed. And actually just to bolster that point a bit, you know how, five, six is four is the highest so far because you can divide it in so many different configurations. Not just that. If you're thinking about groups of people doing things, you can also split six into two plus four. With addition, and like so many games where to set or play with four people and so many games, where you just play with two, like chess or something. So it's super easy to separate into a group game for four people and say a chess table in our pensioners' club. That's basically what we do. Don't judge. So, okay. Six was a very good number, indeed. Absolutely outstanding.
Iskren:Not just that, Iliyas favorite podcaster, CGP, grey has made this whole video about why hexagons six sided, regular figures are the best of guns. So he's super biased. He really love six. It represents hexagons
Iliya:way. before hexagons, I loved six way before that.
Iskren:and they discovered that hexagons are best of guns? for many reasons. So six is a very strong contender. We agree. Well, why is it cool because its useful, right. Six is the utility. Number six is the worker number. You can have all sorts of trade with six because you know, if you're making deliveries of some sort of physical goods, you have to package them in some way, and then be able to distribute bits of them to two different customers. Six, is a very good number for this. six is a worker number. Now, why am I giving this whole description for six? Because I'm introducing seven, because seven is every bit, the opposite seven is the AGS number seven is the least easy to work with number when you're actually, thinking of practicalities Six was very good for grouping in pairs of all sizes and doing some sort of commercial activity, say seven is prime. It's too large to be one of those very significant numbers, like two or three, you know how we said five is kind of a boring. Number it just reintroduced for the third time primeness. And theres six, which is super useful and seven does it again. And at this point it's not, layman, non imaginative, like with the five at this point, it's very much on purpose Its just we already saw that five is lazy. Seven saw that five is lame and seven. was like, you know what, I'm going to, just screw with the system and if five could get away with it. I'm going to be like a five. Fuck it. So it just became yet another prime number, literally zero new concepts introduced for five. I could at least give the argument of being kind of half of 10. We live in a decimal system. Mostly it kind of makes sense. seven, nothing at all, and it's on purpose seven is just an agent number. And to support this point of view, just look at how it's written with Arabic. Numerals Its literally on edge. the symbol for seven is an edge. So overall seven is so utterly pointless. That it's cool.
Iliya:Yeah. What Can I say man seven is very edgy. I would never, ever, ever, ever added in my top five, nor my top seven, seven is a number for people that are trying to be cool. And they're like, oh, my favorite number is seven. You know what? Everybody's favorite number is seven. So not cool. You have to pick a different number when everybody's edgy? not edgy. So seven is not heaven. Now I have to give it to seven for two things. First, when you write seven, what you said it's an edge, but actually I write it in a different way. So it's basically bringing this from the, four-- uh, an ambiguity of writing it. So I basically cross it out and I always imagined it as this mustache. seven is so cool its this mustache it's flexing it. And then the last one is that seven, has a very, very strong cultural support. Sorry to say this, but Eva king doesn't have three songs. He definitely has seven songs. He would never have five songs, always seven. And there are seven mountains. And they're like, do you remember the creature the three-headed creature. It has more than three heads Theres Seven definitely seven is a very, very strong number in culture, religion and so on because it's so edgy.
Iskren:Yeah. You heard it here. First kids. Religion is edgy.
Iliya:Hey, are you enjoying the show? Well, let me be a five for you. No, no. let me be a nine for you and break the flow with an ad. Now this ad comes from a company which is called . 3veta.com. 3veta?! with a 3 in the name. How cool is that is three going to make top three? I don't know, man, but 3veta is surely in the top three of my favorite companies 3veta is the go-to solution for providing services online. No matter if you're a consultant, lawyer, coach, or you simply want, to have a side hustle online that requires a paid online meeting, 3veta has everything that you need, starting from a website through calendars, scheduling meetings, hosting, video, everything on your own domain. It's so cool. It's more like a one now that I think about it, it has everything inside of it. How about that? How about you check out the 3veta.com once we're done with, this show, eh? Mm mm mm, mm. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, totally, totally incepted this in your brain. Do it. Okay. Ma'am now without further ado, I would like you to give it up for eight.
Iskren:Okay. Okay. So I've picked eight just to bash it. You know, there's just full disclosure before that eight is a bad number because it thinks it's good, but it's not, let's see what eight brings to the table. Do you remember how four flexed on two? Because it was two plus two and two times two. And then eight is like, well, look at me, I'm four plus four and four was that number for two. So it's just repeating fours cool point with four itself, but that's already old Four already did that. don't do it eight. It's not worth it. So 4, 6, 8 is an addition because its just four plus four. And for multiplication, what is it two times four? Well, guess what? Were Multiplying two different numbers. Six already showed us this with two times three. So that's already borrowed from six or does it show much blank, three numbers together two times, two times two. That's again, the situation like with four, it's already done by adding two numbers, you're just extending it in a boring way. Or you can add three numbers together. Well guess what? Three was one plus one plus one as well. So basically so far. eight Pretends to bring a bunch of things to the table, but it brings nothing. Now the one thing that we could potentially say that it brings is it's the first cube except one. So it's like two to the third, but this is exactly the same as being a square. four just extended a bit. So it does to four exactly the same things. with addition and with a cube, just thinks whatever four achieved and extends it to some tiny, boring way and pretends to be cool. And the final stroke against eight is that point about, writing them as numerals and them not being cool. Numerals eight looks like a very cool numeral. Yeah, it looks pretty cool. It's like slick and stuff. What is this? Just two zeros stacked. Unless it has its own recognizable character Its just. Two zeros stacked. That's it. So eight does not have my respect,
Iliya:such a dis[respect], such a dis[respect] man. Yeah.
Iskren:We have gathered to spend our time. ditching eight.
Iliya:Hmm. Unfortunately for me, it's very hard to argue, but I will try. So first of all, cubes, yes, they're extending what squares are, but then again, they're showing a pattern Its like kind of solidifying this knowledge, right? That you, can have the same number multiplied by itself once, or you can have it twice. Like two by two by two is two to the third power, which, is 23 Yeah, cool number! So eight is two to the third and kind of cool. Now about the sign man, you know, eight, shit design. But there's this infinity sign. So eight is just the finished sign, rotated to 90 degrees, which can make it cool in a way, because it's kind of infinity, but knowing it's nothing like infinity makes it, a bit odd. Now the smarter view Im going to point out that infinity actually stole the sign from eight. And that would be a correct statement. Yeah. I think Infinity's flexing it much better than eight. So, sorry. eight, you sucked at that too. And finally about the cube, I have to say, cubes are cool. Cubes are cool because squares are even in, a multiplication way and cubes are odd in a multiplication way, which makes it a bit cool. You know, you have eight. it's like a square. But it's not a square and this is something cool. Isn't it? Isn't it. you, of all people you're the supporter of seven should be able to appreciate this. it looks like a cube, but it's not a cube. And then, you know, what, if you take the square root of eight it's two square root two, which is cool, man, it's two times the square root to the whole thing to the square. it is three twos together in, a new way? So it's cool, man. And the last point is it's a cube true. And it's a very small cube. It's actually a one digit cube, which, is cool on its own. Sorry. Sorry. I have to say it. It's the only one-digit cube.
Iskren:except you know who ONE! classic one literally moves all the achievements. ever.
Iliya:All The accolades, you know, we should make a thumbnail, of this and then one, has many medals and accolades.
Iskren:Do you have those competitions for, you know, different ways in which a number could be cool? All of them are you're fighting for the second place because of one already claimed first place. because it's one and it's first. Anyway, so we're fighting for second place.
Iliya:Okay. So what is nine? Nine is a cool number guys. It's cool. It's three times three. So it's a square. It's six plus three and six and three were very cool. numbers. And, you have, it looks like a cube, but it's not you know, you just came after eight and you were like, okay, I just saw two, to the cube. Like, what is the cube of two? Probably you're the cube of three, but not it's the square of three. Well, trying to be cool, trying very hard, wants to be eight, wants to be six, wants to be four because it's a square wants to be many made things. Nine is a very ambitious number. I think nine will never quit trying, you know, even in culture, when seven mountains are not enough, you have nine mountains. nine trying to be trying to be good. Nine is you have three trilogies and you have nine, you know, good number decent. number. A number that has dignity, unlike seven, now I'm done rooting for nine. I dont know. You're not seeing anything,
Iskren:I was waiting for you to be done, like trying to defend this puny period number. It's like, you know, if I had to vote worst of all the numbers. So far nine is by far the worst. no, we had five. We had fucking five and nine is somehow worse. because five at least was like, you know what? I'll be lazy. It's like the goal of laziness, but maybe that's cool. Maybe five is just chilling on a beach somewhere nine, try to be useful and fail. So it's a square. Okay. Just like four, it's a square of two identical numbers, just like four. And that's when after we have seen. The multiplication of two different numbers, which is six. We have even seen a cube and it's trying to exemplify being a square. This is so weak.
Iliya:It's an old square man. It's an old square it shows a pattern, give it to nine, come on, man.
Iskren:It shows The worst pattern ever. nine is just bad. and you know, what, also? it's like we have almost gotten to 10 Ten is a complete breaker ruse. It has two digits. it's like a different beast. And nine is like this one last step that we have to take before we actually reached the cooler numbers, like 10 it's, like 10 minus one. And for writing it, it's literally six upside down because the gentleman or whoever made up the Arabic numerals as to how to write them, they didn't want, to be bothered to think about how to write nine, I imagine it on a Friday afternoon, then tasked in the office to figure out how to write numbers. Some accountants, I don't know. I wasn't there. Maybe I was, I don't know. And they're like, ONE is going to be this cool symbol, just like a dash and stubborn two blah, blah. And then they reached nine.
Oh man it's like 5:45 PM. I don't want to be bothered. Let's just take the six turn it upside down. It's a nine now. Let's call it a day. Ciao! So there's just nine super lame from everywhere. And don't even lazy on purpose, like the five. So that's why so far for me, nine is the worst number.
Iliya:Okay. Okay.
Iskren:And finally, just to say this, somebody had to say. it. There were nine rings to the Kings of men in the middle earth. You know, they gave to the Elves the high elves, they get three rings. Three's a good number To the dwarves, they gave seven. Cool and edgy, just like the dwarves and to men, they give nine and they were like the most corrupting rings. That's human purpose.
Iliya:It's a very human number. Nine. It's very human. Let's go to the last number, which is a part of the competition. Zero. When somebody picks one, they feel so good about themselves. You're like, oh, I've won this race, but I'll tell you something one. You're nothing without the numbOh!! okay. So why zero? is Cool. All of these cool things that you've heard about one zero has them, some of them, most of them, not all of them, but some of them now one shows that something is there. It is the one Its the identity. Zero means no identity, no one, none.
Iskren:It has many faces. You know, nothing, none, no one, no. not.
Iliya:It is very needed. Very, very important because no other number would mean anything. If we couldn't define the absence of numbers now, zero is also very cool in the way you can write it as a circle. This is very cool. Like all these other numbers, they were stealing this feature, you have six and you have eight. they just want to be cool with this circle inside. But. its Reserved for the zero guys, you know, what's cooler. If you don't write any number, it's definitely zero. There is nothing. So zero is everywhere. Everywhere you have one, you also have zero it's like matter and anti-matter, you just need that zero to make everything full. And then we go to computer science and, the simplest way we can talk about numbers, introduce numbers and think about ideas and, design, processors, and computers. you know, you need that zero. You need the zero as the opposite of one. Yeah, I think zero is the most underrated number. I believe many people when they think about numbers, they disregard the zero and I find this offensive, but we simply have to give this. Accolades, all these accolades we are giving to one, we need to give them to zero. And I urge you people when you vote, when you make your vote next time. And you're completely sure that one is the best number, place That zero after him, because it deserves to be there.
Iskren:Okay. So zero, we can't say anything bad about zero. We don't want trouble with zero because zero is not just so good at various ways. Zero is also, you know, kind of creepy, like, looking at the numbers. If I think about a six or whatever, if I'm on six bad lists what's going to do, to me, the fucking six But, zero Zero, it's mysterious. Zero can fuck me up in ways. I cannot imagine there's something creepy and mysterious about zero. Tell you why it's because. zero Is the other side of the coin to infinity, right? So remember how two and three were the two sides of the same coin, even in odd numbers, the two first useful building blocks, basically two numbers after one that you can combine into other numbers, after six, so two or three, are the two sides of the same coin in the same way, zero and infinity are the two sides of the same coin because Infinity's one over zero and zero is one over infinity. So kind of throw it to multiplication or division. Let's say they are the opposites conceptually, it's not so okay. In some countries, zero is part of the natural numbers in some countries. It's not depends on the, particular definition that you use, but let's say for us, natural numbers start at one because there's numbers, you count with 1, 2, 3, et cetera. And zero is not. One of the natural numbers.
Iliya:It's supernatural.
Iskren:Yes. Precisely its natural It introduces infinity. That's what it does. And so zero is the first, I think truly mysterious number, because three and seven and nine, are maybe religious in spiritual in some way they were used throughout history, but zero is the first really weird number. Zero is the first number that exemplifies an operation being non-violent because you can always add to numbers. You can always multiply to numbers. You can always subtract to numbers, but you're not guarantee that you can divide two numbers because you kind of add by zero because we get infinities. Right. And so there's the first time you can't do it.
Iliya:I just want to say division is the worst operation, but that's for another time.
Iskren:Unless you're a six, then youre pretty sure with division. because everybody divides you except for *f Five. Okay. Four.
Iliya:Oh man. we will have to believe so much of what you're saying.
Iskren:Okay. But are we aiming to be PG 13? Is that the thing?
Iliya:Yeah. We have to be because apple podcasts are going to bring us down if we're not.
Iskren:Oh, Apple, come on. I'm literally talking about how cool numbers are. Are you going to sensor me for real?
Iliya:Um, censorship man? Censorship. They make you say zero things.
Iskren:Nah, haha.
Iliya:I think this was a very fruitful discussion. We have one more number that you wanted to discuss and it's 10. So why is 10 an important number?
Iskren:Yeah. So 10, you know how we said, let's talk about basically the digits. There's 10 of them, zero through nine, and then every other number you can compound from those in a decimal system, which most of us use in our everyday lives. So 10. Is this number that, yes its not a digit, but it's very important because it brings something truly new to the table. So how we say nine didnt bring anything new to the table --not a single thing? All the concepts it brings like being a square, being odd, blah, blah, have already been exemplified. Whereas 10 is the last number to bring the highest number, to bring something truly radically new to the table. And that's the concept of sticking digits together, of course, working decimal to make larger numbers. So you take one and zero, both of them. So the strongest contenders were clueless numbers so far and you glued them together. And you make a new number. So remember the story I was telling about nine. How this poor accountant clerk, you know, 5:45 PM on a Friday, want to go home. And they had to designate the symbol for nine and they were lazy. And they were like, oh, it's just going to be upside down six. Well, 10 is the first number, that completely shutters. This it's a new number, but it doesn't need any new symbols Its the first number that says, you know what? I don't need my own symbol. I can make it and I can make it from already established cool symbols. So how much cooler is it? to Take a one and zero combine them then make your own new symbol like nine, which sucks. Anyway. Now, before this turns into a full-on bash on nine yet again, so 10 is cool about this just because, we live in a decimal. world. Everything we count is in decimal. The basic view, is in decimal, there's 10 digits, zero through nine. And how many fingers do we have in our hands? Ten. How many toes do we have? Ten. there's something not simply, an abstract math and us being in a decimal system. There's something very evolutionary about this number. If we have 10 fingers, and 10 toes, there's something special evolutionarily about this number. What do you think?
Iliya:I think you just made a strong point about five that we have five fingers, but, I'm, going to ignore it. Sorry. Yeah. Sorry. Five 10. I don't know, man. 10 very strong. I don't think it's admissible to add 10 to this competition mainly because adding, it would mean that we have 11 contenders completely the opposite statement. of what you just said that 10 has this intrinsic value. and So on, we have 10 contenders and that's why we don't talk about 10.
Iskren:But I would say that this is zero's fault. You know, we have 10 contenders, it's one through 10 and then the 11th one is the zero. That's the weird one. There's the odd guy.
Iliya:Yeah. But 10 wouldn't exist without the zero. So it's zero's fault yeah.
Iskren:Zeros the mystery, you know, it's so necessary. And yet you just cruise those counts,
Iliya:Now that we have explored all of these numbers and we know their properties and we know their good sides and we know all the skeletons in their closet and we know everything we need to know about these numbers let's vote for them. Now I was thinking about this vote, how should we make the vote? And indeed we have voted before on this, but in a different. way. So before we were just like, maybe the coolest numbers are this and that. Now I want to have an alternative vote. So we're going to use an alternative voting system. We want to find the three best numbers and the three worst numbers. So you have to vote for the three best and you have to offer a three worst. And then we compare notes and we see what is what, okay, let's start writing. I'm ready.
Iskren:Me, too.
Iliya:What are your three best numbers? first?
Iskren:So in third place we have number one. It's a very good number its the basis for everything ever, but it's just too obvious of a choice. So it gets to it in top three, but not the winner Now, number two who's number two. It's the mystery. Entrant to this competition Its zero. So number two is zero. Very cool, very mysterious breaks, everything ever, including division. Finally, what's my number one. Best number three, I vote three.
Iliya:Okay man. Good for you.
Iskren:What are yours what are yours
Iliya:in third place? I have placed number zeromystery, mystery zero. So it gets a third place. So it, will definitely not be the winner of this competition. Now in second place, I place number six, six is a very good number. I believe it's the most useful number you need to know. However, not as cool as number one, which is not one. I haven't placed one on the first spot. I have placed number three. I agree with you.
Iskren:Ah! There's a crushing win for three.
Iliya:I really believe number three is a very cool number. Yeah. Everything about three. is Cool.
Iskren:Once again, this podcast has been funded by 3veta.com.
Iliya:Yeah. So it's not a coincidence that we chose our name to have a three, because three is very, very, very cool. It was before we had this discussion, it's just subconsciously cool. Which makes it extra cool. Now three is the winner of this game show. However, second place goes to number zero, the mystery one, supernatural one. And then according to these votes, third place goes to number six and one, because it was my second best. So one did not make it into the top three. I am very happy about it. I intentionally did not put it there because it's unfair. It's not fair to game the system one. So, sorry.
Iskren:Yeah. One is like a cheater, like a hacker, on a game server,
Iliya:one is like a hacker. Yeah. And six, six, very decent. I'm very happy with your performance six.
Iskren:So to summarize 3, 0 6, that's what we have Now, for the real real competition. What's the worst three numbers. What's your, selection?
Iliya:Yeah. So third place. Third. worst goes to number eight, eight solid number, but not the worst. Let's say you're not the worst in second place. I placed the one that I have bashed publicly so far, and I really don't like it's number five. Number five, number five, has this very strong support. Maybe, the fact that we have five fingers, they turn me and I don't place the last, but yeah. And now, number one, worst number on my list. You have successfully completely disgusted me. It's number nine. Number nine is the worst number on my list.
Iskren:Now having heard your selections, So yours are basically from best to worst. They go 8, 5, 9, right? And nine is the absolute worst for you. This is in absolutely all essence basically the same as my selection; except for me, I have said a 5, 8, 9. So I have said that the third worst number is five. Second. Worst number is eight and the absolute worst number is nine, which means that both for absolute best number and for absolute worst number, we have agreement they're three and nine, because nine via voted democratically, by the way, nine voted the absolute worst number unanimously. Why is it the worst one? Because it tries to steal some of threes stander. and three is just the best you can't touch three. So nine. just lost very heavily And eight and five have to share the second worst place. This might even be worse than nine, to be honest, eight and five crunch, them on the side, which one is worse. So we somehow voted them to be equally bad. They're just, you guys are bad numbers. We can't justify your existence. You always hit the boys nine, but you still make the public list of shame of being a bad number eight and five shame on you,
Iliya:yeah, man. Five is a bad number. Okay. Okay. So this concludes our game show. We're so happy. that youve tuned in.
Iskren:I would like to know, I imagine that if the podcast somehow becomes, famous and enough, people listen to it. I am absolutely certain that people. will be able to bring very interesting points of this discussion because the whole discussion is kind of ridiculous, but bring in many good for the mental points for what is multiplication, what is addition or whatever. And, well, for example, these geometric facts at all three points make a surface. And so I'm absolutely certain that we have missed so many potential ways in which we can present some numbers. Cool! because it introduces some cool concepts in some other science or field of study, et cetera. So I actually really hope that enough people hear this episode and they somehow reach out to us and tell us something cool about the number, you know, how they think about this number, how do they represent it, how they justify its place through all of the first 10 numbers.
Iliya:You heard it Tweet Iskren. whenever you have a cool idea, just tweet, Iskren, Or any social media handle that you find of him?
Iskren:Literally, I have no Twitter and I have a private Instagram.
Iliya:Yeah. Send him emails, send him emails, guys stay very interested in numbers. Math is cool. It's very cool because it introduces us to all these interesting, interesting numbers, interesting concepts, and interesting ways in which they communicate with each other, in which they intertwine. Then we use these numbers to actually make much cooler stuff. You know, this podcast has been brought to you. by zeros and ones.
Iskren:represent, I spent my days shamelessly advertising 3veta to anyone around me who listened. So now I'm going to change strategies and let the numbers tell you more about it. Instead. Number one, scheduling, booking a public website, video meetings, payments for them all in one place. for them all in one place. This is 3veta. Anything you ever need to meet clients online and get paid for it. It's in one place 3veta.com. Number two, ask a number of people in your first free meeting, just call a friend and have a test one-on-one meeting to check the system out, and then you can take it off from there. Number three, the THREE obviously stands for 3veta. It's literally in our name, the best numberthree. number four. There is a number of core services that are seamlessly integrated in the product. Your calendar, your website, your online video and your payments all seamlessly integrated number five, it takes just five minutes to set up your whole online presence with 3veta and start getting paid for your time. Number six, That's how many people I challenge you to tell about 3veta to spread the word as we've seen, seven is the edge number and most to be different with . 3veta, You can be too, you can customize everything to have your branding, colors, logos, et cetera, eight and nine. I'm kind of running out of ideas here. And also they're kind of bad numbers as we've seen. So I'm not going to acknowledge them, lets just skip them over to go to the last one. Number 10, you know how to do X let's. say You know how to draw? You explain to 10 people how to do X in an hour online. Each one of them paid, let's say $50 for that. And suddenly That's $500 in your bank account right away with no technological effort on your side whatsoever. How amazing is that? So why not give it a try? Go to 3veta.com now.