23 (number)

In mathematics
Twenty-three is the ninth prime number, the smallest odd prime that is not a twin prime. Twenty-
three is also the fifth factorial prime, the second Woodall prime. It is an Eisenstein prime with no
imaginary part and real part of the form 3n 1.
Twenty-three is the sum of three other, consecutive, prime numbers; 5, 7 and 11. It is the first
prime number showing this characteristic.
The fifth Sophie Germain prime and the fourth safe prime, 23 is the next to last member of the
first Cunningham chain of the first kind to have five terms (2, 5, 11, 23, 47). Since 14! + 1 is a
multiple of 23 but 23 is not one more than a multiple 14, 23 is a Pillai prime. 23 is the smallest
odd prime to be a highly cototient number, as the solution to x (x) for the integers 95, 119,
143, 529.
Twenty-three is the aliquot sum of two integers; the discrete semiprimes 57 and 85 and is the
base of the 23-aliquot tree.
23 is the first prime P for which unique factorization of cyclotomic integers based on the Pth
root of unity breaks down.
The sum of the first 23 primes is 874, which is divisible by 23, a property shared by few other
numbers.
[1][2]

In the list of fortunate numbers, 23 occurs twice, since adding 23 to either the fifth or eighth
primorial gives a prime number (namely 2333 and 9699713).
23 also has the distinction of being one of two integers that cannot be expressed as the sum of
fewer than 9 cubes of integers (the other is 239). See Waring's problem.
23 is a WedderburnEtherington number. The codewords in the perfect (non-extended) binary
Golay code are of size 23.
According to the birthday paradox, in a group of 23 (or more) randomly chosen people, the
probability is more than 50% that some pair of them will have the same birthday. A related
coincidence is that 365 times the natural logarithm of 2, approximately 252.999, is very close to
the number of pairs of 23 items, 253.
In base 10, 23 is the second SmarandacheWellin prime, as it is the concatenation of the base 10
representations of the first two primes (2 and 3) and is itself also prime. It is also a happy number
in base 10. 23! is 23 digits long in base 10. There are only three other numbers that have this
property: 1, 22, and 24.
The natural logarithms of all positive integers lower than 23 are known to have binary BBP-type
formulae.
[3]

23 is the smallest prime number p such that the largest consecutive pair of p-smooth numbers is
the same as the largest consecutive pair of (p-1)-smooth numbers, as given in the On-Line
Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences sequence A228611. That is, the largest consecutive pair of
23-smooth numbers, (11859210,11859211), is the same as the largest consecutive pair of 22-
smooth numbers, and 23 is the smallest prime for which this is true.
In science
The atomic number of vanadium.
The atomic mass number of the stable isotope of sodium.
Normal human sex cells have 23 chromosomes.
[4]
Other human cells have 46
chromosomes, arranged in 23 pairs.
[5]

Scientific notation for the Avogadro constant is written as 6.02214179(30)10
23
mol
-1
.
[6]

Nobel Prize-winning economist John Forbes Nash, the inspiration for the film A Beautiful
Mind, was obsessed with the number 23 and it featured prominently in his nervous
breakdown. He claimed that Pope John XXIII was in fact himself, the evidence being that
23 was his favourite number. Nash also published only 23 scientific articles.
23 is the width of the Arecibo message, sent to space in search for extraterrestrial
intelligence.
In technology
23 is the TCP/IP port used for telnet and is the default for the telnet command.
In religion
Psalm 23, also known as the Shepherd Psalm, is possibly the most quoted and best known
Psalm.
[7]
Psalms is also the 23rd book in the DouayRheims Bible.
In Islam, the Qur'an was revealed in a total of 23 years to Muhammad.
[8][9]

Muslims believe the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Islamic prophet
Muhammad on the 23rd night of the 9th Islamic month.
[10]

In Abhidharma, the number of anomalous generic types (of a possible 72) - e.g., events
are considered sui generis because they are not reducible to either mind or matter is
23.
Principia Discordia, the sacred text of Discordianism, holds that 23 (along with the
discordian prime 5) is one of the sacred numbers of Eris, goddess of discord.
In popular culture
Sports
The regular (or "home-and-away") season of the Australian Football League consists of 23
rounds, although each club has one bye during the season.
[citation needed]

The number 23 has been retired by a number of professional teams.
Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees
[citation needed]

Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs
[citation needed]

Willie Horton of the Detroit Tigers
[citation needed]