Number Six I Am Number Four

[Andreas Mbili]

4four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.

Brahmic numerals represented 1, 2, and 3 with as many lines. 4 was simplified by joining its four lines into a cross that looks like the modern plus sign. The Shunga would add a horizontal line on top of the digit, and the Kshatrapa and Pallava evolved the digit to a point where the speed of writing was a secondary concern. The Arabs' 4 still had the early concept of the cross, but for the sake of efficiency, was made in one stroke by connecting the "western" end to the "northern" end; the "eastern" end was finished off with a curve. The Europeans dropped the finishing curve and gradually made the digit less cursive, ending up with a digit very close to the original Brahmin cross.[1]

Television stations that operate on channel 4 have occasionally made use of another variation of the "open 4", with the open portion being on the side, rather than the top. This version resembles the Canadian Aboriginal syllabics letter ᔦ. The magnetic ink character recognition "CMC-7" font also uses this variety of "4".[3]

Four is the smallest composite number, its proper divisors being 1 and 2.[4] Four is the sum and product of two with itself: 2 + 2 = 4 = 2 2 \displaystyle 2+2=4=2\times 2 , the only non-zero number b \displaystyle b such that a + a = b = a a \displaystyle a+a=b=a\times a , which also makes four the smallest and only even squared prime number 2 2 \displaystyle 2^2 and hence the first squared prime of the form p 2 \displaystyle p^2 , where p \displaystyle p is a prime. Four, as the first composite number, has a prime aliquot sum of 3; and as such it is part of the first aliquot sequence with a single composite member, expressly (4, 3, 1, 0). Four is therefore also the smallest semiprime, where the fourth such distinct semiprime is the product between the smallest pair of twin primes (3, 5); meanwhile the fourth prime and composite are (7, 9), where twice four lies between these. Also,

Lagrange's four-square theorem states that every positive integer can be written as the sum of at most four square numbers.[8] Three are not always sufficient; 7 for instance cannot be written as the sum of three squares.[9]

The four-color theorem states that a planar graph (or, equivalently, a flat map of two-dimensional regions such as countries) can be colored using four colors, so that adjacent vertices (or regions) are always different colors.[11] Three colors are not, in general, sufficient to guarantee this.[12] The largest planar complete graph has four vertices.[13]

A solid figure with four faces as well as four vertices is a tetrahedron, which is the smallest possible number of faces and vertices a polyhedron can have.[14][15] The regular tetrahedron, also called a 3-simplex, is the simplest Platonic solid.[16] It has four regular triangles as faces that are themselves at dual positions with the vertices of another tetrahedron.[17] Tetrahedra can be inscribed inside all other four Platonic solids, and tessellate space alongside the regular octahedron in the alternated cubic honeycomb.

The third dimension holds a total of four Coxeter groups that generate convex uniform polyhedra: the tetrahedral group, the octahedral group, the icosahedral group, and a dihedral group (of orders 24, 48, 120, and 4 n \displaystyle n , respectively). There are also four general Coxeter groups of generalized uniform prisms, where two are hosoderal and dihedral groups that form spherical tilings, with another two general prismatic and antiprismatic groups that represent truncated hosohedra (or simply, prisms) and snub antiprisms, respectively.

Four-dimensional differential manifolds have some unique properties. There is only one differential structure on R n \displaystyle \mathbb R ^n except when n \displaystyle n = 4 \displaystyle 4 , in which case there are uncountably many.

Maybe you've learned about the Japanese superstition about the number four. If you've already read Viet's article on Foureign (har har har!) superstitions, hopefully this section doesn't bore you to death (har har har har har!).

The quick version of why the number four is unlucky is that it sounds just like the word for death (shi 死し). Sometime a really, really long time ago, someone figured this out and probably had his goats die on April 4th (I'm just making stuff up here). Then, he started telling everyone how four = death and that they all need to watch out because nasty things will happen. Some people believed him, it spread, and the rest is history.

It doesn't end there, though. If you read my post Goroawase: Japanese Numbers Wordplay, you'll not only know how to remember the phone numbers that show up at the end of Japanese commercials, but you'll also probably notice that there's even more potential for unlucky sounding numbers. For example:

I'm sure there are plenty of other unlucky four-related unlucky numbers out there (444, omg!), but these are the main ones. Obviously 42 is a bad age to be, according to the above list, not to mention 45 foreshadowing your death a couple years later.

Basically, though, some Chinese dude who likes puns noticed the similarities in these words and started telling anyone who'd listen. Then, it spread around and fermented for a few thousands years, resulting in superstitions, missing floors in buildings, psychological disorders, and more. How fun!

You don't have to speak any of these languages to see the similarities here. Even in cases like with Vietnamese (where the pronunciation is nothing like the Chinese "original"), both the words for four and death are very similar (coincidence? I think not). In the chart above, the languages with the biggest differences between the two words are Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese. What's the difference? Just the tone.

China has always been one of the most influential countries in Asia, especially way back in the day. They spread products, ideas, religion, and culture. Although there's no way of really knowing, I'd say it's pretty safe to assume that China spread this superstition around Asia as well. So, turns out I can blame my irrational fear of four on the Chinese. Way to go China. Way to go.

The word tetraphobia comes from the Greek words tetras (four) and phobos (fear). Put those together and you have a "four fear." Tetraphobiacs are afraid of the number four so much that they can't lead normal lives. Like most disorders, there's no specific reason for it (other than ones own past experiences), though some people think extreme tetraphobia has to do with bipolar disorder.

The British Medical Journal reported on a study that looked at mortality statistics in the United States over a twenty-five year period. They found that on the fourth day of the month, Chinese and Japanese people were thirteen percent more likely to die of heart failure on that day. In California alone, Chinese and Japanese were twenty-seven percent more likely to die of a heart attack on the fourth day of the month.

So who else is terrified of the number four? I avoid it when I can, for sure, but I at least know that it's irrational, and knowing is half the battle, right kids? I'm also lucky that I usually have no idea what day it is. That means I should be safe from the fourth-day-of-the-month heart attack syndrome, I hope.

"I Am Number Four" is shameless and unnecessary. That's sad, when a movie casts aside all shame, demonstrates itself willing to rip off anything that might attract audiences, and nevertheless fails. What we have here is a witless attempt to merge the "Twilight" formula with the Michael Bay formula. It ends with sexy human teenagers involved in an endless special effects battle with sexy alien teenagers who look like humans, in a high school and on its football field.

Let's pause for a moment to consider this apocalyptic battle. It is all special effects. None of it is physically possible. It might as well be a cartoon; it's essentially CGI animation intercut with brief bursts of inane dialogue. Brief, because the global action market doesn't much care about dialogue, and besides, when people start talking about something you could run into the hazard of having actual characters in a plot. Minute after relentless minute, creatures both human and alien, who we care nothing about, wage war and occasionally disintegrate into clouds of tiny pixels for no particular reason.

I like science fiction. The opening shot of "I Am Number Four" holds promise, as John (Alex Pettyfer), the narrator, explains that he is a Mogadorian, no doubt from a planet named Mogador. Specifically, he is Mogadorian No. 4. Don't expect me to explain the Mogadorian numbering system. He is hiding out on planet Earth and doing everything possible to disguise himself as a box-office attraction like Edward Cullen. They have already killed Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

Consider. The "Twilight" movies were about a handsome and sexy teenager who exerted a powerful attraction upon a virginal young girl, and yet held himself aloof because he was a vampire. Here John is a handsome and sexy teenager who is technically unavailable because he is an alien, although it appears that Mogador may luckily have evolved teenager boys indistinguishable from humans to such as Sarah (Dianna Agron).

John has been on the lam around America to remain in hiding from those who would kill him, and is accompanied by his fellow Mogadorian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant), who poses as his father and cautions him that his real father didn't die only to see John marry an Earth girl. Whether John has the option of returning to Mogador and settling down with a nice Mogadoress to raise Mogadorlings, I am not certain.

The high school elements in the plot revolve around John's popularity in some areas (he's an ace on a Jet-Ski) and non-conformity in others (his palms function like high-powered searchlights). He is also free of the ordinary constraints of gravity and can leap for dozens of yards and even fly. What this means is that the climactic battle scene can take place largely in the air, and Harry Potter's Quidditch games join the honor roll of the plundered.

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