Numbers Trivia

According to numerologists, the number nine holds special
rank. It is associated with forgiveness, compassion and
success on the positive side as well as arrogance and self-
righteousness on the negative.

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Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician and father of the
famous theorem, noted that nine in particular had many
unique properties. For example, multiply nine by any two,
three or four-digit number and the sums of those will also
break down to nine. 9x62 = 558; 5+5+8=18; 1+8=9.

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The Chinese associate the number nine with long life, due
to how similar its pronunciation is to the local word for
long-lasting. Historically, ancient Chinese emperors
associated themselves closely with the number nine, which
appeared prominently in architecture and royal dress,
often in the form of nine fearsome dragons.

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The imperial dynasties in China were so convinced of the
power of the number nine that the palace complex at
Beijing's Forbidden City is rumored to have been built
with 9,999 rooms.

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In Japanese, the word for nine is a homophone for the word
for suffering, so the number is considered highly unlucky -
second only to four, which sounds like death.

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Many Japanese will go so far as to avoid room numbers
including nine at hotels or hospitals, if the building
planners haven't already eliminated them altogether.
And in America, we're superstitious with the #13...go figure!