The 47 Web Site

Forty-seven is the most commonly occurring two-digit random number. The proof is in the extraordinary number of times the number 47 occurs in factoids. This web site is dedicated to the number 47. The factoids that follow are true -- these are not made up.

You might want to check out the The 47 Society home page. Here you will find out about the origins of the 47 phenomenon, it's relation to Pomona College and why 47 shows up so much in Star Trek (Star Trek 47)

Psi U 47 Factoids...

• Jim Muhr works the Long Island Railroad. He reports: Our first new electric railroad car achieved a maximum speed of, you guessed it, 47 mph on the test track in Canada.
• As of 1 January 2000, there were 47 Psi Upsilon Alumni Associations.
• If you write out the Greek alphabet twice, the 47th letter in the sequence is Psi. If you do the same for the English alphabet, the 47th letter in the sequence is U.
• James Hinsey's Social Security number has two 47's in it. So does his phone number and so did his RPI phone number.
• David Manthey, EI 410, and his younger brother, Dan Manthey, EI 457, are -- you guessed it -- 47 EI numbers apart.
• Back in 1992, the IRS fined the Alumni Association $90.00 for allegedly not filing some form in a timely manner. Gary, as Treasurer, paid the fine first and told Forrest about the situation later. Forrest got the money back from the IRS--with $0.47 interest.
• Maeve's dog, Hooligan, weighs 47 pounds (as of January 1999).
• The average temperature of Troy, NY (according to NOAA) is 47.8 degrees.

47 Factoids...

• Pitcairn Island is 47 square miles in area and has a present population of 47. (Rich adds "As I looked into it further the estimates of population seem to range a bit and depend on who you consider a valid resident to count. Some of the estimates include temporary social workers, &c., presently stationed on the island, some only include Bounty descendants, &c. So it is possibly that a population of 47 is not accurate depending on your point of view.")
• The length of a pit stop service area in the Indianapolis Speedway is 47 feet long.
• Asteroid 2003 QQ47 could be the death of us all, or not. Either way, it got more media hype than any other near earth asteroid in years.
• The Geneva Convention protecting prisoners of war was originally signed by 47 nations.
• Euler left so much material unpublished upon his death that it took St. Petersburg Academy 47 years to finish printing all of his manuscripts. From Elementary Number Theory, David Burton, p. 129, ISBN: 0-07-232569-0.
• The world's first inflatible wedding chapel is 47 feet high.
• The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus train is on the road 47 weeks of every year.
• Anssi Vanjoki was caught going 47 miles per hour on his motorbike in a 30 mile-per-hour zone. His traffic fine: $103,600. Welcome to Finland, where fines are now based on the annual income of the speeder. The more you earn, the more you pay when you break the law.
• In Monsters, Inc., the factory floor was 47 days without incident before a monster came back with a kid's sock on his fur.
• A typical ring-laser gyro INS (Interial Navigation System) during the period 1975-1985 weighed 47 lbs. - from the November 2001 Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing journal.
• The first space shuttle flight after the Challenger disaster was STS-47.
• The exit door on a Boeing 737-300 weighs 47 lbs. This in itself, isn't that significant of a fact. But think about it this way:
  According to the Commercial Jet Aircraft Census, the Boeing 737-300 is the most common operational jet airliner after the MD80 (1100 vs 1153). The -300 shares many parts with the -400 and -500, the family of which numbers 1966 in service, a large share of the 3696 flying 737s. Nearly every domestic airline operates 737s. Southwest, for instance, operates exclusively 737s.
  Aside from offering more leg room, exit rows offer higher chances of surviving in the event of a fire. However, one of the requirements to sit in the exit row is the ability to lift and move an exit door.
  This means, in order to get the maximum chance of survival on an airliner, you must be able to lift 47 lbs.
• When President Clinton left office, 47 presidential pardons were not reviewed by the Justice Department.
• Saddam Hussain had 47 presidential bunkers.
• Common Sense was 47 pages long (also an amazing best-seller).
• The length to width ratio of the Golden Gate Bridge is 47:1.
• Rolaids absorbs 47 time their own weight in stomache acid.
• Also known as Theodore Geisel, Dr. Seuss published 47 books in his life time.
• O.J. Simpson was allowed 47 names on his visitor list while on trial.
• According to Ptolemy, there are 47 constellations.
• The Maltese Falcon weighed 47 pounds.
• There are 47 voting members for the Academy Awards.
• Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Today they celebrate the days of '47.
• Each cell in the human body has 46 chromosomes. Down's Syndrome is caused when the fertilized egg develops a 47th chromosome during mitosis. Individuals with Down's Syndrome have 47 chromosomes in each cell.
• There are 47 mL of concentrate in a serving of Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail.
• Most coach buses have a passenger seating capacity of 47.
• According to "The Book Of Facts" by Isaac Asimov, a mosquito has 47 teeth.
• The civil-war era ironclad Monitor (a Union ship) was built with 47 patentable inventions.
• 47% of Monaco's population is French.
• The Voice of America broadcasts in 47 languages.
• The road running through Joshua Tree National Monument is 47 miles long.
• The "Great Sunspot Group" of April 7, 1947 (that's 4/7/47) was the largest sunspot group ever recorded.
• Americans eat an average of 47 pounds of chicken a year.
• The CN Tower in Toronto is 447m high, equivalent to 147 floors.
• When Lord Carnavon tragically opened Tut's tomb 47 people died from the curse.
• At Reims, France, on August 28, 1909, Hammond Curtiss won the first international air speed event at 47 mph.
• The intermediate appellate courts of New York, the four appellate divisions of the Supreme Court, are made up of a total of 47 permanent judges.
• In the sport of polo, the bamboo or graphite handle of the mallet is a minimum of 47 inches.
• The area of the Aran Islands, a group of three small islands in the Atlantic Ocean, is 47 square kilometers.
• There are 47 species of gulls.
• Today, there are only 47 existent copies of the Gutenberg Bible, printed sometime between 1450 and 1456.
• Japan is divided into 47 political regions, called prefectures, which include Okinawa.
• South Carolina has 47 state parks.
• Rideau Canal, the 125-mile canal in southeastern Ontario which connects Lake Ontario to the Ottawa River, has 47 locks.
• The largest Stone Age tomb in England, located near Stonehenge, contains the remains of 47 people.
• A cubic foot of human flesh weighs approximately 47 pounds.
• The maximum angle formed by the heavenly bodies Sun-Earth-Venus is 47 degrees.
• The front of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall has 47 visible organ pipes above the stage.
• There were 47 Samuri who became Ronin after their lord was slain. They eventually killed his slayer, then all commited ritual suicide. For more details, see Brother Hinsey's site http://members.aol.com/jhinsey47/html/chushingura.html.
• The Great Potato Famine in Ireland occurred in 1847. There is a commemorative beer named Black 47 Stout.
• There are 47 active volcanoes along the Aleutian Range in Alaska.
• There are 47 Moose Creeks in Alaska according to official USGS data.
• In the song "Macerena", the refrain is repeated 47 times.
• Monty Python's "And Now for Something Completely Different" skit on "How not to be seen" begins with "there are 47 people hidden in this scene".
• Babe Ruth's career home run record of 714 home runs stood for 47 years until Hank Aaron broke it; the last day Ruth's record stood was 4/7/74.
• Jordan's King Hussein was king for 47 years.
• In the July 1996 edition of Reader's Digest, one of the articles is that of the "Case of the Paint-Spot Murders." The two investigators were both 47 years old at the time the murders began. The suspect they eventually arrested was also 47 years old. (p 137 ff) (Don't ask why Gary was reading Reader's Digest).
• According to Reader's Digest, One-fifth of gold used in the United States today--some 47 metric tons--is for electronics. (June 1996, p. 60) (Again, don't ask why was Gary reading Reader's Digest)
• Chuck Toedan got 47 death threats a week in the movie "Deathrow Gameshow".
• Hot Springs National Park has 47 hot springs
• Of the books sold in the United States, 47% are romance novels.
• O.J. Simpson (wasn't he some sort of bit actor) spent his 47th birthday in jail.
• According to Andersen Consulting's web site, they have offices in 47 countries world-wide.
• According to a 1991 Gallup Poll, 47% of respondents believed God created the earth within the last 10,000 years. (Discover, Sept. 1995, p.41)
• Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969, 47 days after NBC aired the last episode of Star Trek.
• According to NBC Nightly News, the average salary of women in the United States has increased by 47% in the last 25 years.

Multiples of 47 Factoids

• There is a tiny bacterium called Mycoplasma genitalium. It lives in the human genital tract and lungs, causing no known disease, but has the distinction of having fewer genes, only 470, than any other organism mapped so far.
• Check out the Spring 1996 edition of the Sam Adams newsletter. It details how the American Homebrewers Association won a $47,000 prize for its efforts to legalize homebrewing in all 50 states.
• The Skywalker ranch in Marin County is 4,700 acres big. (Reader's Digest, p. 82)
• Katmai National Park has about 4,700 brown bears within it borders.
• The annual output of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is 47 billion kilowatt- hours.
• California's dairy advisory board ran a campaign in 1995 about California Real Cheese. A slogan they used was "47 Million People Visited California Last Year...It's The Cheese."

If you have any good ones, email them to me. Just make sure the factoids are "clever." For example, February 16th is the 47th day of the year, but so what? Silver has the atomic number 47, and titanium is the only element with a naturally occurring isotope of atomic weight 47. But so what? These factoids in themself are "uninteresting." If something "interesting" were to occur on that day, like somebody stole 47 bars of silver on February 16th from somewhere, then you might have something. Do you understand?

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Maintained by David Manthey, EI 410.

Last updated 6/13/05.