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26	20	6

'26' ('twenty-six') is the natural number following 25 and preceding 27.

Cardinal	26 twenty-six
Ordinal	26th twenty-sixth
Factorization	$2\; cdot\; 13$
Divisors	1, 2, 13, 26
Roman numeral	XXVI
Binary	11010
Hexadecimal	1A

Contents

In mathematics

In science

Astronomy

In religion

In other fields

Historical years

References

In mathematics

Twenty-six is a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 2, and 13. 26 is the only number between a square number and a cube number, the numbers being 25 (5 squared) and 27 (3 cubed). This was first proved by Fermat.
There is no solution to the equation φ(x) = 26, making 26 a nontotient. Nor is there a solution to x - φ(x) = 26, making 26 a noncototient.
In the classification of finite simple groups there are 26 sporadic groups.
26 is a repdigit in base 3 (222).
26 is the 7th distinct biprime (2.13) and the 5th with 2 as its lowest non-unitary prime factor. The aliquot sum σ(n) of 26 is 16 with an aliquot sequence of 8 members ; (26,16,15,9,4,3,1,0), leading to 0 through the prime 3 the 6th composite number so to do.
26 is the smallest number which is not a palindrome, but has a square which is. 26^2=676.

In science

★ The atomic number of iron

★ The number of spacetime dimensions in bosonic string theory.

Astronomy

★ Messier object M26, a magnitude 9.5 open cluster in the constellation Scutum

★ The New General Catalogue object NGC 26, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pegasus

★ The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on -2022 March 29 and ended on -724 May 17. The duration of Saros series 26 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 solar eclipses.

★ The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on -1937 August 28 and ended on -386 March 17. The duration of Saros series 26 was 1550.5 years, and it contained 87 lunar eclipses.

In religion

★ 26 is the gematria of the four-letter name of God

★ According to Jewish chronology, God gave the Torah in the 26th generation since Creation

In other fields

'Twenty-six' is:

★ The number of World Series Championships won by the New York Yankees through 2006.

★ The number of letters in the English and Interlingua alphabets, if capital letters are not distinguished from lowercase letters.

★ The English alphabet-inspired name of the not-for-profit group 26, which campaigns to inspire a greater love of and more effective use of words.

★ The number of miles in a marathon rounded down (26 miles and 385 yards).

★ The designation of Interstate 26, a freeway that runs from South Carolina to Tennessee.

★ The car number of Will Ferrell's title character in ''. In real life, however, this is Jamie McMurray's car number.

★ Michigan is the 26th state to be admitted to the United States.

★ Often the number of episodes in a television program each year; this allows one new show per week for half the year, and one rerun per week for the rest of the year.

★ The name of a baby dinosaur in ''Dinotopia'' series.

★ The alias of punk rock singer Doc Corbin Dart

★ The age at which males can no longer be drafted in the United States

★ A Rubik's Cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less^[1].

★ The number of words sent in 43.24 seconds by Kimberly Yeo of Singapore to set the Guinness Book of World Records record for fastest text message

★
★ Ms Yeo sent the following sentence, established as the official standard by Guinness for this record: “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.”

★ The number worn by Anthony Sgroi of the Long Island Legend [1]

★ A recurring number in the rpg 'Final Fantasy 2k3'

★ The "joke throw" in the game of darts, where a player throws 20, 5 and 1 when aiming for 20 (or treble 20). In professional darts, throwing 26 usually results in sneers or laughter from the audience.

★ A dice game popular in the midwest United States from the 1930s to 1950s; players had to roll a chosen number 26 times or more, exactly 13 or fewer than 10^[2].

★ The number of red boxes featured on the game show Deal or No Deal.

Historical years

'26 A.D.', 26 B.C., 1926, 2026, etc.

References

★ Prime Curios! 26 from the Prime Pages
1. D. Kunkle and G. Cooperman, "Twenty-Six Moves Suffice for Rubik's Cube", Proc. of International Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation (ISSAC '07), ACM Press, 2007, 235--242.
2. "Twenty-six." Encyclopædia Britannica. ''Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.