26 (number)

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

In mathematics

26 is the only integer that is one greater than a square (5² + 1) and one less than a cube (3³ − 1).^[1]

A rhombicuboctahedron has twenty-six faces.

When a 3 × 3 × 3 cube is made of twenty-seven unit cubes, twenty-six of them are viewable as the exterior layer.

There are 26 sporadic groups.

Properties of its positional representation in certain radixes

Twenty-six is a repdigit in base three (222₃) and in base twelve (22₁₂).

In base ten, 26 is the smallest number that is not a palindrome to have a square (26² = 676) that is a palindrome.

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.

In religion

• 26 is the gematric number, being the sum of the Hebrew characters (Hebrew: יהוה) being the name of the god of Israel – YHWH (Yehweh).
• The Greek Strongs number G26 is "Agape", which means "Love".
• The expression "For His mercy endures forever" is found verbatim in English and the original Hebrew 26 times in Psalm 136. The expression is found once in each of the 26 verses.
• According to Jewish chronology, God gave the Torah in the 26th generation since Creation.

In sports

The jersey number 26 has been retired by several North American sports teams in honor of past playing greats (or in one case, an owner):

• In Major League Baseball:
  • The Chicago Cubs, for Hall of Famer Billy Williams.
  • The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, for founding owner Gene Autry.
  • The Texas Rangers, for Johnny Oates.
• In the NHL:
  • The Quebec Nordiques retired the number for Hall of Famer Peter Stastny, but when the team moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche, it chose not to honor any of the numbers retired by the Nordiques. Peter Stastny's son, Paul Stastny, plays for the Blues and currently wears the number.
• No team in the NBA or NFL has retired the number.

Other sports:

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

In other fields

Twenty-six is:

• In Microsoft Windows list of Alt Codes, the combination Alt+26 yields the "right arrow" symbol →
• The letter Z is the 26th and last letter of the English alphabet.
• A 2003 novel by Leo McKay, Jr..
• The name of the Australian Alternative Rock band, 26
• The number of letters in the basic Latin alphabet, if capital letters are not distinguished from lowercase letters.
• The total number of cases on Deal or No Deal.
• Often (in the United States) 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 alias of punk rock singer Doc Corbin Dart
• The age at which males can no longer be drafted in the United States
• 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]
• In a normal deck of cards, there are 26 red cards and 26 black cards.
• The number of Cantons of Switzerland.
• The number of bones in the normal human Foot and Ankle.

References

• Prime Curios! 26 from the Prime Pages