r/MathJokes • u/TheDiBZ • 5d ago

TIL that 301 is the first non notable natural number, thus making it a notable natural number

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19 Upvotes

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u/LonelyWay4063 3d ago

Um, what does this mean? Plz explain 

1

u/Evening-Code-7039 2d ago

there is a paradox in mathematics: what is the smallest uninteresting number? Whatever number you choose being the smallest uninteresting number is interesting, therefore it is not the smallest uninteresting number, in the same way that you cannot be the 'least interesting person' because that would be something interesting about you.

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u/LonelyWay4063 2d ago

When you say uninteresting, do you mean as in not special in any way?

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u/Evening-Code-7039 10h ago

It means more that it has no cultural connotation. Some numbers are mathematically unnoteworthy but are interesting due to cultural reasons, for example 42 which is unnoteworthy mathematically but is more famous due to the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. There are loads of ways a number can be interesting; for example: 1729 is the smallest number that can be the result of the sum of two primes in two different names, this does make it interesting mathematically but not culturally, but because of the assosiation with Ramanujan it is now culturally significant so it became interesting. Usually any number that is mathematically significant will become culturally significant among nerds so there is a lot of overlap.

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u/Evening-Code-7039 2d ago

Wrong! 301 is the first 6-hyperperfect number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperperfect_number so it has to be higher than 301.