The No.1 Book of Numbers

Ruth Binney has been studying the natural world for most of her life. She holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and has been involved in countless publications during her career as an editor. She is the author of many successful natural history and gardening books including Weeds on Trial 9781910821275, Flower Garden Secrets 9781910821428, The English Countryside 9781910821459 and Coasts 9781910821398. She lives in Cardiff.

1 Introduction 8

2 Numbers of many sorts 10

3 Numbers and counting 12

4 1 - The number of unity 17

5 2 - The duality 19

6 3 - The trinity of perfection 21

7 4 - Truth and justice 23

8 5 - The number of nature 26

9 6 - Without a fault Six and the snowflake 29

10 7 - The symbol of fortune 32

11 The seven wonders of the world 35

12 Puzzles to solve 37

13 8 - Harmony and balance 38

14 9 - Unbounded 40

15 The nine muses 43

16 10 - On our fingers and toes 44

17 11 - The final hour 46

18 12 - A number in time 47

19 The twelve labours of Hercules 49

20 13 - And other teens 53

21 0 - The story of zero 54

22 Lucky - and unlucky - numbers 56

23 Odds and evens 59

24 Many favourite numbers 60

25 The secrets of numerology 62

26 Big numbers 66

27 Small numbers 68

28 The appeal of primes 69

29 Making shapes with numbers 72

30 Numbers - more different types 74

31 - the most famous number 75

32 Fibonacci - the brilliant number sequence 77

33 The golden ratio 79

34 Numbers in use 81

35 The world we live in 84

36 Our planet earth 86

37 Lines on the map 89

38 Measuring the world 94

39 A matter of weight 98

40 By volume 101

41 More about money 104

42 Inventing the calendar 106

43 Time and the circle 109

44 The living world 110

45 The human body 114

46 A number for your home 120

47 Addresses in fiction 121

48 A dark history 123

49 The streets of power 124

50 Numbers for the post 126

51 Roads to take - navigating by numbers 127

52 The number to call 130

53 PIN - what's your number? 132

54 Edible connections 134

55 Sizing up our drinks 137

56 Of yarns, fabrics and clothes 139

57 All that glitters 140

58 Beauty by numbers 142

59 For our leisure and entertainment 144

60 Proverbs and sayings 146

61 Bingo lingo 147

62 Books with numbers 149

63 In the film title 156

64 Counting in song 161

65 Jazz numbers 163

66 A musical miscellany 165

67 Poetry's secrets revealed 167

68 The beautiful game 170

69 The oval ball game - rugby football 174

70 The game of golf 176

71 Throwing darts 178

72 Cricket - bat on ball 179

73 On court - the game of tennis 182

74 Snooker and other cue games 185

75 The game of baseball 187

76 Chancing your luck 189

77 Throwing dice 192

78 Playing dominoes 194

79 Solving the square 195

80 Index 200

81 About the author 208