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And of course after #23 comes #24 on our planet. Congratulate MsPhy on winning a spot in the OctoPrep Challenge! And now for some very challenging facts about #24: Who remembers Avogadroās constant for the number of atoms contained in one mole of a substance from high school Chemistry? No, me neither. But, a great way to approximate it is using 24 factorial ā or 24! in mathematical notation. The factorial function (or exclamation mark) tells you to multiply all of the numbers less than 24 together. So, 24! is equal to 24 x 23 x 22 x 21 x 20 x 19 x ā¦ x 2 x 1, also known as an incredibly large number. Itās about 3% larger than Avogadroās constant, but certainly easier than remembering 6.02214076 x 10Ā²Ā³. Twenty-four also represents the number of carats in pure gold, the number of letters in the Greek alphabet (ancient and modern) and the number of points on a backgammon board. Mathematically, 24 is the smallest number with exactly 8 numbers that divide it ā can you name them? And, itās equal to exactly 4 factorial: 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24. Last but not least, where would we be without the 24 hour day ā or to be precise 24 hours plus or minus a few milliseconds to be completely exactā¦ Day length Yesterday 24 hours -0.46 ms Today 24 hours -0.39 ms Tomorrow 24 hours -0.35 ms Shortest 2019 24 hours -0.95 ms Longest 2019 24 hours +1.67 ms Last Year Average 24 hours +0.69 ms Author: The Funbers series is written and presented by Dr Tom Crawford and is broadcast weekly on BBC radio. For more maths fun check out Tomās website tomrocksmaths.com and follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube @tomrocksmaths. CHEERING QUEEN |