Dimensionless Constants

Some Dimensionalless Constants:

0. Not sure what to put here

Alpha: Approximately 1/137.035999. Note 1/137.0 = ~ 0.00729927…, a cool palindrome in the repeating decimal expansion (period 8)

Epsilon: ~0.007 “The fraction of the mass of four protons that is released as energy when fused into a helium nucleus. ε governs the energy output of stars, and is determined by the coupling constant for the strong force“

Lambda: ~0.7 “The ratio of the energy density of the universe, due to the cosmological constant, to the critical density of the universe. Others denote this ratio by Ω_Λ“

Omega: ~0.3 “The ratio of the actual density of the universe to the critical (minimum) density required for the universe to eventually collapse under its gravity. Ω determines the ultimate fate of the universe. If Ω ≥ 1, the universe may experience a Big Crunch. If Ω < 1, the universe may expand forever”

Throughout history, people have found many sorts of religious, spiritual, scientific, and mathematical significance within a few small numbers. Here, through the help of Wikipedia providing many references, I’ll attempt to catalog some of the meanings people have assigned to said numbers. My list is obviously incomplete – feel free to copy it and add your own stuff to it, as I myself may add more to it. I suppose this list is my implementation of the Strong Law of Small Numbers.

1. Universe, One-ness (or maybe 2 universes? Or maybe… infinite? Who knows the number of universes… One-ness can still apply to the multiverse as a whole)
2. Duality (of several kinds) (see the Category-Theoretic definition and Taoism), The Rhythm of a Heartbeat
   e. The constant e goes between 2 and 3
3. Dimensions of space (also one of Martin’s numbers)
   pi. The constant π goes between 3 and 4
4. Four:
   1. Dimension of Time
   2. Directions of 2D Space (dual duality)
   3. Religious Significance, prominently in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judeo-Christian symbolism
   4. The Four Elements
   5. The Four Seasons
5. Five: (0. My mom’s favorite number)
   1. The Fifth Element, Aether or Void
   2. /
   3. /
   4. /
   5. The Five-Pointed Star of the Bab
   6. Five Groups (so far) of particles with mass, in the standard model: quarks, leptons, the Higgs Boson, the W boson, and the Z boson
   7. A/The Fifth of Seasons (in-progress work by me)
6. Six:
   1. Just Six Numbers, by Martin Reese
   2. The palindrome in 1/137.0 = ~ 0.00729927 has length 6 (two zeroes not included)
   3. Directions of Space
   4. /
   5. /
   6. 6*6 = 36, and 10³⁶ is also one of Martin’s six numbers, N: “the ratio of the electrostatic and the gravitational forces between two protons. This ratio is denoted α/α_G in Barrow and Tipler (1986). N governs the relative importance of gravity and electrostatic attraction/repulsion in explaining the properties of baryonic matter”
   7. (77) The Devil’s Number is 666
   8. The Six-Pointed Star of David
   9. The Sixth Pair: Gluons and Photons, the two remaining particles without mass
7. A Very Popular Number in many mythologies and media (0. My favourite number)
   1. The palindrome in 1/137.0 = ~ 0.00729927 has length 7 (one of the zeroes not included)
8. Eight (I used to hate, but now I don’t):
   1. /
   2. /
   3. /
   4. The Eightfold Path of Buddhism
   5. /
   6. /
   7. The Eight-Pointed Star, popular in Islam
   8. The period of the decimal expansion of 1/137.0
   9. /
9. Nine (Rhyme? Almost) :
   1. The Nine Pointed Star of Baháʼí
   2. 9 * 11 = 99 Names of God in Islam
10. Ten
    1. Kalki, the Final Incarnation of Vishnu
    2. Gurus in Sikhism
11. Eleven (0. My Mom’s Favourite Number)
    1. The Eleventh, Eternal Guru
12. Twelve
    1. Twelve Imams for most Shia Muslims
13. An Unlucky Number, as I’ll end the list here for now, but note that:
    13
    = 5+5 + 3
    = 1 * 1 + 2
    = 6+6 + 1
    =E 1 3 + 0
    =7 * 7 – 1
    =32*5E- 2
    = 8+8 – 3
    = 9*9 + 4

Just Kidding!
100. See above