Faithful followers of this blog have probably figured out by now that my favorite number is 33. Half of my favorite number is 17. Well not exactly, but close. Exactly half is 16 and 1/2, but half of a number is messy and who wants to deal in fractions anyway. So half of my favorite number has to be either 16 or 17 — I choose 17 because I like it better.
Anyhow, today is the 17th of July — and although it doesn’t get the popularity it deserves, it does have its own holiday. Today is Yellow Pig Day. Many people often confuse Yellow Pig Day with National Pig Day. Don’t be one of those — they’re completely different. National Pig Day is always on March 1st. Yellow Pig Day is always on July 17th. National Pig Day recognizes and gives thanks to domesticated pigs. Yellow Pig Day is a mathematician’s holiday celebrating yellow pigs — and — the number 17!!
Today, July 17 is not just another ordinary day, just like a yellow pig is not just another ordinary pig. Yellow Pigs have inspired mathematicians for years. Two Princeton math students, Michael Spivak and David C. Kelley actually invented the yellow pig in the early 1960s while working on an assignment to identify unique properties of the number 17. A yellow pig has 17 eyelashes (eight on one eye and nine on the other,) 17 toes and 17 teeth. One story that I’m not sure is true is that the Princeton students carried out many of their intense mental gymnastics and actually invented the yellow pig after only a few pints at the local pub.
Needless to say, in the years since their invention, Spivak has written a number of mathematics textbooks, where he regularly includes hidden references to yellow pigs, and David Kelly presents an annual mathematics summer school to high school students, where he introduces them to the “Cult of the Yellow Pig.”
So, let’s get back to half my favorite number. Before you read any further, be aware that the fear of the number 17 is called heptadecaphobia.
Now prepare to be amazed….
The mummy of King Tutankhamen was wrapped in 17 sheets.
The Parthenon is 17 columns long
Shakespeare wrote 17 comedies (in the 17th century)
Hamlet reigned for 17 years.
The number 17 is used 13 times in the Bible
The word “seventeen” is used 17 times in the Bible
The Flood started on the 17th. Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat (17,000 feet) on the 17th.
There is a magazine for young girls called Seventeen
The 17th parallel divided North and South Vietnam
17 hostages were killed during the Olympic games in 1972
There are 17 muscles in the tongue
The world record for sitting in ketchup is 17 hours
Beethoven wrote 17 string quartets
I think you’re beginning to see the importance of 17 in our lives. There are even jokes about the number 17, like…. What is alive, green, lives all over the world and has seventeen legs?
Answer: Grass. (I lied about the legs.)
So if after reading this far and you’re still wondering what’s the significance of a yellow pig and the number 17….. well, if you have to ask, you just won’t understand.
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