23 | NUMBER of the week

Language

• Classical Latin contains 23 letters.
• 23 is XXIII in Roman numerals and 二十三 in Chinese symbols.

Mathematics

• 23 is 10111 in the binary numbering system, 27 in octal, and 17 in hexadecimal.
• According to the birthday paradox, in a group of 23 (or more) randomly chosen people, the probability is more than 50% that some pair of them will have the same birthday.
• 23! is 23 digits long in base 10. Only three other numbers have this property: 1, 22, and 24.
• 23 is a happy number :-)

Bible

• Tola Judged Israel for 23 years (Judges 10:1-2).
• The 23rd Psalm is perhaps the best-known Biblical Psalm.
• Jehoahaz was 23 when he began to reign over Judah (2 Kings 23:31, 2 Chronicles 36:2).
• In Jeremiah 25:3, Jeremiah said that he had received and proclaimed God's Word for 23 years (up to that point).
• The 23rd verse of the New Testament (Matthew 1:23) cites the 23rd book of the Bible (Isaiah).

Years

• In 23 BC, Herod Archelaus was born.
• In AD 23, Pliny the Elder was born.

Sports

• Michael Jordan's basketball jersey number was 23.
• David Beckham's football jersey number was 23 after he started playing for Real Madrid.
• Michael Phelps has won 23 Olympic gold medals.

Science

• Vanadium's atomic number is 23.
• If you are 23 years old on earth, then, in theory, you would be 95 years old on Mercury, 37 on Venus, 12 on Mars, 1 on Jupiter, and less than 1 on Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

At the age of 23 . . .

• Jonathan Edwards was ordained a minister at Northampton, MA.
• George Whitefield visited Savannah, Georgia.
• Fanny Crosby read some of her poetry to a joint session of Congress.

"What hath God wrought!"

Numbers 23:23