24 | NUMBER of the week

Bible

• The Hebrew Bible contains 24 books (not 39).
• Baasha reigned in Israel for 24 years (1 Kings 15:33).
• One of King David's nephews (called Jonathan) killed a huge man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, thus twenty-four in all (2 Samuel 21:20-21).
• King David had the priests and the musicians arranged into 24 divisions each (1 Chronicles 24-25).
• The gospel of Luke, which has been divided into 24 chapters, is actually the longest book in the New Testament if calculated according to the number of words.
• In heaven, John saw 24 elders sitting on 24 thrones around the throne (Revelation 4:4).

Language

• 24 is XXIV in Roman numerals and 二十四 in Chinese symbols.
• The Greek alphabet contains 24 letters.

History

• At the age of 24, William Pitt became the British Prime Minister.
• In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state to join the union.
• When Charles Dickens was 24, his Pickwick Papers began to be published in installments.
• Riddle: Grover Cleveland, the 24th President of the United States, was the 22nd man to hold the office. William McKinley was the 24th man to become President. Why is that?

Science

• Chromium's atomic number is 24.
• 24 is the number of carats representing 100% pure gold.

Mathematics

• 24 is 11000 in the binary numbering system, 30 in octal, and 18 in hexadecimal.
• 24 is the factorial of 4 (24 = 4!). In other words, 4∙3∙2∙1 = 24
• If you have four distinct items, you can order them in 24 different ways.
• The product of any four consecutive numbers is divisible by 24. For example, 5∙6∙7∙8 = 1680, and 24 goes into 1680 exactly 70 times.
• Mathematically, 24 is a highly composite number, a semiperfect number, a highly totient number, a nonagonal number, a Harshad number, a semi-meandric number, and the smallest 5-hemiperfect number.

Entertainment

• Motion picture films are usually projected in 24 frames per second.
• There are 24 points on a backgammon board.

Time

• If you are 24 years old on earth, then (in theory) you would be 99 years old on Mercury; 39 on Venus; 12 on Mars; 2 on Jupiter; and less than 1 on Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
• There are 24 hours in a day.

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; 

In feelings, not in figures on a dial. . . . 
Life’s but a means unto an end; that end, 
Beginning, mean, and end to all things—God."
Philip James Bailey