State your favorite number, and why it is your favorite number.

22 responses total.

(Doesn't have to be integers, or even real numbers)

Perhaps one can apply an objective standard for a "favorite number". That 
is, if asked to "pick a number", what number do you pick most often? Or 
when setting combinations on locks (or passwords?), what number(s) do you 
prefer? I can imagine these tendencies might differ for different 
applications.

For heaven's sake.

Nope, I'm letting God pick my favorte number!
(peers at belly button)
My favorite number is 42

5

Okay.

My favorite number is Pi. Everyone knows what Pi is (or should) so I
don't need to describe it. I like it because it adds a little chaos to a
world that I think is a bit too convenient (e=mc^2 is pretty damn
convenient!)

Please describe it. Don't leave anything out. 

Its the ratio of a cricle's circumference to its diameter. What else
would you like to know?

I was trying to make a joke on what does "is" mean, as in "Everyone knows 
what Pi is", by asking you to enumerate it.

I don't think, though, that Pi adds any more "chaos" to the world than does
sqrt(2) and lots of other numbers, and not any if by "chaos" you mean
uncertainty, as Pi is completely deterministic. 

Still, I agree Pi it is a PRETTY GOOD number.

Maybe "chaos" is the wrong word, maybe its isn't. I just think 
it's "neat" that knowing the diameter of a circle you can't know the 
exact circumference, and vice versa.

Maybe "irrational" applies?

Nope, MINE is the most irrational number.

Speaking of irrational numbers, I posed the "favorite number" question
to Remmers. He said that his is (1+sqrt(5))/2, aka the Golden ratio.

Now, I had never heard of the Golden ratio before so I checked it's
Wikipedia article out (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio) and it
made for a pretty interesting read.

I was hoping to hear about other interesting numbers (that I had never
heard about) in this item...not 42 and 5. :P  But, if those are your
favorites then okay.

Hey 42 is the meaning of life!!!
Haven't you read "Hitchhiker's Guide?

No, actually I have never read that book. Never been to Disney Land
either. :)

There are a plethora of "interesting" numbers. One way to divide them is into
those that are inherent in the universe, like Pi, and those that are of
historical interest to humans, like the Golden Ratio. One of the most
important of the former is e = 2.2.71828183.... (sorry, I don't have space
to write it out completely). x = e^(-t) is the solution to dx/dt = -x,
which is the general expression for the rate of decay of a quantity being
proportional to that quantity - and of course is many other contexts, such
as the base for Napierian logarithms. 

Okay, since 5 is not very impressive, I pick 0. It was one of the simplest
but historically elusive concepts in mathematics.

It' a nice round number, too.

5, because it's so Discordian.

65536.

Mine would be: i.

#21 reminds me of an announcement at the halftime show when Rice played
football against Michigan.

"This show was brought to you by the letters R and C, and the numbers I and
E.

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