Hexa anyone?

Hi,
Sorry that other concerns and considerations have kept me from writing more frequently than I intended. Anyways, today's post is about the number 6. The most obvious reason why I like the number 6 is that it is a multiple of 1, 2, & 3; and interestingly, it is also the sum of 1, 2, & 3!! I relate number six to indigo or dark blue but i also relate it to a backwards facing stork as shown here!

Typically, we are used to seeing 6 in many more ways than we can identify off the top of our heads! A hexagon is a polygon with six sides (Click here to see a hexagon). We see hexagons in many places around our house and life - think bolts & nuts, beehive structures (so we see these on honey bottles), soccer balls (usually have a combination of hexagons and pentagons), and basic structure of carbon (we don't see this, but Carbon is one of the basic elements we are all made of). We also see 6 in every cubic or cuboid object we see/use. Every cube/cuboid has six sides. A dice consists of 6 sides, for example. Another interesting and probably less known fact about 6 is that in calculator digits, 6 is written using exactly 6 lines! This only holds true for 4, 5, and 6!!

Another interesting aspect of 6 is that we use it every second of the day, literally... Our clocks are set up in increments of 60 --> 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour; 6 hours are 1/4th of the day, 6 are the days of work in most parts of the world and constitute almost 1/5th of a month, and last but not the least, 6 months constitute half a year! While 6 is (obviously) not a prime number itself, like i mentioned earlier, it is the sum and the product of the first three natural primes (1, 2, 3). Since 9 is also the inverted version of 6, a quick note here about 6 and 9 is in order - in our passion for 3s, 6 and 9 are the first two whole number multiples of 3!!

To check for divisibility by 6, all we need to do is check for divisibility by 2 and 3. I will cover divisibility by 2 when i write up the entry for the number 2 and have covered divisibility by 3 in the post about 3! 

6 also implies  half a foot - in fact if we look back at the non-metric systems around the world, we find that 4 and 6 show up prominently and not 10. Another aspect of 6 that is important is it's square - 36. As I discovered recently on my trip to the State Fair, 36 inches is the minimum height the park people allow for most rides! On further investigation about that I found that this is due to the fact that 36" is the average height of a 3-year old (gotta love the 3s!!), and the physical stability required to sit through and enjoy most rides (taking into account the femur length, etc. which allows for comfortable and safe seating). Another cool thing about 36 is that it is also the product of two squares - 4 & 9!!


Anyways, that's all i have to say about 6 for now... if i think of anything else, i will make another post for it at some point in the future. If you have anything to add, PLEASE send me/post your comments...

Until tomorrow or later... ADIOS!!!