What are your favourite numbers?

[AshGirl]

I feel like this board is a safe space for discussing this!

I commented to my DH that 8x5 was the most satisfying part of the times tables. And that 4+5 is the best number bond!

I always found things like algebra and quadratic equations very soothing as you could just work your way through then. I didn't do any maths or science past GCSE so I am sure that I am missing out on lots of cool numbers!

[Bergamotte]

That's completely fair 🙂

[Mummiepig]

Yes I've seen those save the change accounts, but it wouldn't work for me, too messy!!
It has to be .00 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Bergamotte]

@Mummiepig

I have a strong aversion to numbers that don't end .00
For example I cannot have any of my bank accounts with pence in them eg £123.45
It would have to ge £123.00 or ideally £120.00
I literally can't stand it, so will transfer the odd pence to my husbands account, or try and buy £23.45 of petrol to make it .00
I've done it since I was a child, I used to earn £19.88 at my Saturday job when I was 16 and pester my mum for 12p every week so I could pay a round £20.00 onto my account
I've never met anyone else who does it, maybe in their savings account but not in their current account
I avoid buying things that are not round pounds eg £1 £2 £10, as I messes up my account

Some bank accounts have an option to round up your spending and transfer the odd pence to a savings account. I imagine the savings account would have to be in your name though, so don't know if that would still feel too untidy / uncomfortable.

[Trivester]

Ahhhh lovely thread.
I found maths completely baffling in secondary until one day it clicked that most of the chapters were describing the same things in different ways and it was all about space and moving through dimensions.

I really struggle with visual imagination but if I concentrate really hard I can sort of see maths moving.

I don’t know why it took me so long to grasp because it is quite obvious that square numbers are squares and cubed numbers make cubes. My dc seem to get this from an early age whereas it was just mystifying scratches on pages to me.

[AshGirl]

@FloorWipes

@AlternativelyWired yes when I first started googling this and couldn’t find anything I was very confused. But maybe this is all common knowledge and I have just explained it badly! This contains pictures: www.hertsforlearning.co.uk/blog/when-number-not-number

Love this! Thanks so much for sharing!

[Mummiepig]

I have a strong aversion to numbers that don't end .00
For example I cannot have any of my bank accounts with pence in them eg £123.45
It would have to ge £123.00 or ideally £120.00
I literally can't stand it, so will transfer the odd pence to my husbands account, or try and buy £23.45 of petrol to make it .00
I've done it since I was a child, I used to earn £19.88 at my Saturday job when I was 16 and pester my mum for 12p every week so I could pay a round £20.00 onto my account
I've never met anyone else who does it, maybe in their savings account but not in their current account
I avoid buying things that are not round pounds eg £1 £2 £10, as I messes up my account

[AlternativelyWired]

Thank you, that's really interesting.

[FloorWipes]

(If I were to draw my pictures of how I count the “points” it would look a little different though)

[FloorWipes]

@AlternativelyWired yes when I first started googling this and couldn’t find anything I was very confused. But maybe this is all common knowledge and I have just explained it badly! This contains pictures: www.hertsforlearning.co.uk/blog/when-number-not-number

[AlternativelyWired]

@FloorWipes please could you explain what you have said in pictures? I've googled but it's a rabbit hole. I'm really interested in what you have said.

[FloorWipes]

So I really like how the numbers (well 0-9 anyway) represent the concept of each number through the number or angles involved in the design. Our way of drawing them has changed over time, so sometimes I see this more as the number of lines or “key points” in the design. But - and forgive me if I’m mistaken here - most people seem not to know this or to have noticed? No one told me but you can see it and I use the points to count when I add and have always done so and I just thought that was normal. But when I’ve brought it up people don’t seem to know what I’m saying?

I also look at the way the symbols slot together visually to form 10. However I think this is just me, not a design feature! So the way 3 for example sits nicely on top of 7. That’s a favourite for me.

[AshGirl]

I'm enjoying people saying that numbers are 'round' and 'smooth' or 'jaggedy'.

I've remembered that I particularly enjoy numbers that are somehow unexpectedly not prime numbers eg both 21 and 27 being divisible by 3. Perhaps this is because they are odd numbers and feel somewhat spiky but then resolve themselves very pleasingly into round numbers.

Numberblocks has taught me that these numbers are 'rectangly'!!

[DinosaurOfFire]

I have various 'favourite numbers'

Prime numbers, because they're fun
Even numbers, unless they're either side of a number ending in 5, in which case the 5 'wins'.

And numbers that add up nicely, for example 39 is a nice number because 3 x 3 = 9, and also 3+9 = 12 which is also divisible by 3

[autumnlover60]

My absolute favourite number is 11 and I class it as my lucky number. I always see variations of 11 or 11:11 everywhere. I have thought about getting it as a tattoo

[BlackeyedSusan]

I quite like 6. it is round and smooth and a perfect number.

[CharlieAndTooManyCharacters]

you might guess that I have some experience of this particular maths-based rabbit hole.

[CharlieAndTooManyCharacters]

Have you considered signing up for a khan academy account to waste many hours learning unnecessary maths for free? It’s American (so it’s done by US grades etc) but a rabbit hole of considerable time wasting value.

[AshGirl]

All excellent numbers!

I used to do long division of big numbers by hand 'for fun'. It's a wonder nobody marched me off for an ASD assessment earlier

[ofwarren]

I'm not entirely sure. I know I don't like odd numbers though.
Odd numbers feel sharp and jaggedy somehow and make me feel uncomfortable.
I like a nice list of the 2 times table, up to 10.

[AlternativelyWired]

My favourite number is 5. It's an even number in my world. Uneven numbers make me twitchy but 5s aren't odd numbers to me. I like 21 too as it was such a big age and lots of things happened around then.

[CharlieAndTooManyCharacters]

both my older DSes are insistent that 56 (7x8) is the best.

I’m a fan of 3.

[Bergamotte]

@AshGirl

Ooh yes! Love the 9x tables!

I too love the nine times table!

My favourite number is 4. I'm not sure why, it just feels solid.

[Mummiepig]

I like 2 and 22, the way they look is just satisfying!

[AshGirl]

@WeirdPookah

I think how the 9X table works is pretty neat!

Ooh yes! Love the 9x tables!

[WeirdPookah]

I think how the 9X table works is pretty neat!