17 (number) - in Other Fields

In Other Fields

Seventeen is:

• Described at MIT as 'the least random number', according to hackers' lore. This is supposedly because in a study where respondents were asked to choose a random number from 1 to 20, 17 was the most common choice.
  • This study has been repeated a number of times.
• The number of guns in a 17-gun salute to U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps Generals, and Navy and Coast Guard Admirals.
• The number of flames emanating from the grenade cap-badge of the Grenadier Guards.
• During the Second World War, the four-engined heavy bomber as flown by the USAAF and other Allies and known as "The Flying Fortress", was also known as the B-17.
• The maximum number of strokes of a Chinese radical.
• The number of syllables in a haiku (5+7+5).
• In the Nordic countries the seventeenth day of the year is considered the heart and/or the back of winter.
• "Highway 17" or "Route 17": See List of highways numbered 17 and List of public transport routes numbered 17.
• Seventeen, also known as Lock Seventeen, an unincorporated place in Clay Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio.
• Seventeen was the former name of a yacht prior to being commissioned in the US Navy as the USS Carnelian (PY-19).
• In Italian culture, the number 17 is considered unlucky. When viewed as the Roman numeral, XVII, it is then changed anagrammatically to VIXI, which in the Latin language it translates to "I have lived", the perfect implying "My life is over." (c.f. "Vixerunt", Cicero's famous announcement of an execution.) Renault sold its "R17" model in Italy as "R177." See Cesana Pariol in the sport section about the name of curve 17.
• The fear of the number 17 is called 'heptadecaphobia' or 'heptakaidekaphobia'.
• Some species of cicadas have a life cycle of 17 years (i.e. they are buried in the ground for 17 years between every mating season).
• The number of special significance to Yellow Pig's Day and Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics.
• The number to call Police in France.
• Force 17, a special operations unit of the Palestinian Fatah movement.
• The number of the French department Charente-Maritime
• A slang term in the medical field for a psychiatric patient