I like the number 10 and it's the 10th of March so I figured, why not?!
Here are 10 things I want to tell you that are closely (or tenuously sort of almost) related to the number 10.
- Words like decade, decathlon and December come from the Greek root Deca meaning 'ten'. Words such as decimal, decimate and decibel, all come from the Latin root Deci meaning tenth.
- December was formerly the 10th month on the Roman calendar (you would think this was from deci as it is latin but it was actually from Deca which was Greek: go figure!) but became the 12th after Julius and Augustus Ceaser both decided to add a month to the calendar named after them so they would be remembered forever. If you click on the link you will see there were other reasons for the development but one must realise that the names of the months themselves were chosen out of pure ego and not just because it was going to make the seasons more regular on paper.
- The Prime Minister of Britain lives and works at No.10 Downing Street. It's kind of like the UK version of The White House (in the US). While there is a residence for the Australian Prime Minister in Canberra the business of governing is usually conducted in Parliament House.
- The number 10 is the base for the modern system of counting and recording "how many" of something.
- 10 is an even number - which means that it can be divided by 2 with a result of whole numbers.
- Counting to 10 is the most common advice given to people who have a tendency to panic or lash out and to those who have difficulty controlling both themselves and their emotions in difficult situations. I didn't find anything on the internet to back that one up, but next time someone tries to do that, they will find something... here at AGT.
- Most people have 10 fingers and 10 toes. I wonder if that is the reason that 10 is used as the base of our counting and mathematics??
- Pythagoras and his nutty cult people (did you know Pythagoras had a cult? that's a post for another time perhaps), believed that the number 10 was sacred. Apparently they didn't actually like pie (not with an 'e' anyway) so I think we can safely say they are a bit wacko.
- I like the number 10 because it looks nice and even and rounded. Being the intelligent person that I am, I know that isn't actually all that more special than the number 6 or 81 or 56 or 42 but I like it. Besides that, today's post isn't proudly brought to you by any of those numbers so they will just have to get in line.
- The number 10 is the most likely number of items in a list. Even if the last 1-4 items are not actually necessary, many people dislike writing lists that are more than 5 but less than 10 so they will actually make up extra items on the list just so their list can have exactly 10 items and be all even and rounded. This can be proven just by googling 10 and seeing how many lists come up that start with 10 facts/ 10 things/ 10 people/ 10 myths/ 10 children/ 10 animals etc. etc. You could also prove this by seeing how many of my 'listicles' have 10 items.
Love
