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Why even numbers are so calm?
The upcoming iPhone launch event may get canceled due to concerns over coronavirus spread. There are rumors about what the new version is going to be called- iPhone SE2 or iPhone 9 or just iPhone ?. Reports say that they might ditch the number convention and go with just “iPhone” and also form marketing point of view, why do they need to go back to iPhone 9 since X and 11 already exist.
Why did they leave out iPhone 9? What happened to Windows 9? What happened to BlackBerry OS 9?
German theologian Hugh of Saint Victor has something to say about this
10 represents “rectitude in faith”, nine, coming before 10, “defect among perfection”, and 11, coming afterwards, “transgression outside of measure”
I am not sure why these companies planned to omit number 9, but I sense a pattern.
We, humans, have a natural sense of number and this has been found out in many studies especially the one done by Neuroscientist Daniel Ansari of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.
Numbers have a strong bond with religion, culture, superstition and other belief systems.
Characteristics of Numbers
Alex Bello author of “Alex through the Looking Glass” has concrete evidence to show how people relate each number and the meanings associated with them. He did a survey with more than 30,000 people to nominate their favorite numbers and also asked the reason for their choice. Here are some of the words they have used to denote the numbers
One: independent, strong, honest, brave, straightforward, pioneering, lonely.
Two: cautious, wise, pretty, fragile, open, sympathetic, quiet, clean, flexible.
Three: dynamic, warm, friendly, extrovert, opulent, soft, relaxed, pretentious.
The entire listing is given in his book.
In another experiment done by Marisca Milikowski (Department of Psychonomics, University of Amsterdam) people found small odd numbers to be more excitable, and large even numbers to be calmer.
