Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Aftermath of Sudoku - Better be odd

As I said in my earlier post, I have numbers dazzling around in my head courtesy my new addiction to Sudoku. I just found something odd about numbers in nature or maybe I should say something about odd numbers and nature!

When you talk about a group of things that have come naturally they are always odd numbers. Be it the Seven hills of Tirupathi or the Triveni Sangamam at Allahabad or the confluence of three oceans at Kanyakumari. I have a limited knowledge of geography but I am sure there must be more such instances but I have never heard of even numbers in such cases.

The fantasy for odd numbers is not restricted to nature and is evident when it comes to man made things as well. Be it the Seven wonders or Seven sisters, or in stories “Seven dwarfs” in the Snow white story or the Three muskiteers. If you have read Enid Blyton you must be familiar with The famous Five and Secret seven.

I wanted to mention of the Trinity of Hinduism as well here but I was not sure if I should call it natural or man made.

What is the reason for this fantasy for odd numbers? If they are so popular and commonly used then why are they called odd? Are they popular because once they were branded odd? Is there a hidden message here that you have to be odd to become popular?

What do you think?

2 comments:

Janani Srikanth said...

Probably an attempt to change the concept of the "so called" odd things in life?

Partha said...

I did manage to figure out two things that are even but odd numbers still in the lead by a big margin..

The ten commandments. I have the same doubt as in Trinity regarding classification

Chanakya's ArthaShastra