3

3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only
prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies.[1]

Evolution of the Arabic digit ←2 3 4→

−1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 →
The use of three lines to denote the number 3 occurred in many writing List of numbers · Integers
← 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 →
systems, including some (like Roman and Chinese numerals) that are
Cardinal three
still in use. That was also the original representation of 3 in the Brahmic
(Indian) numerical notation, its earliest forms aligned vertically.[2] However, during the Gupta Empire Ordinal 3rd
(third)
the sign was modified by the addition of a curve on each line. The Nāgarī script rotated the lines
Numeral system ternary
clockwise, so they appeared horizontally, and ended each line with a short downward stroke on the
Factorization prime
right. In cursive script, the three strokes were eventually connected to form a glyph resembling a ⟨3⟩
Prime 2nd
with an additional stroke at the bottom: ३.
Divisors 1, 3
The Indian digits spread to the Caliphate in the 9th century. The bottom stroke was dropped around Greek numeral Γ´
the 10th century in the western parts of the Caliphate, such as the Maghreb and Al-Andalus, when a
Roman numeral III, iii
distinct variant ("Western Arabic") of the digit symbols developed, including modern Western 3. In
Latin prefix tre-/ter-
contrast, the Eastern Arabs retained and enlarged that stroke, rotating the digit once more to yield the
Binary 112
modern ("Eastern") Arabic digit "٣".[3]
Ternary 103
In most modern Western typefaces, the digit 3, like the other decimal digits, has the height of a
Senary 36
capital letter, and sits on the baseline. In typefaces with text figures, on the other hand, the glyph
usually has the height of a lowercase letter "x" and a descender: " ". In some French text-figure Octal 38

typefaces, though, it has an ascender instead of a descender. Duodecimal 312

Hexadecimal 316
A common graphic variant of the digit three has a flat top, similar to the letter Ʒ (ezh). This form is
sometimes used to prevent falsifying a 3 as an 8. It is found on UPC-A barcodes and standard 52- Arabic, Kurdish, ٣
Persian, Sindhi,
card decks. Urdu

Bengali, Assamese ৩
Mathematics Chinese 三，弎，叄
Devanāgarī ३
According to Pythagoras and the Pythagorean school, the number 3, which they called triad, is the
Ge'ez ፫
only number to equal the sum of all the terms below it, and the only number whose sum with those
Greek γ (or Γ)
below equals the product of them and itself.[4]
Hebrew ‫ג‬
Japanese 三/参
Divisibility rule Khmer ៣
A natural number is divisible by three if the sum of its digits in base 10 is divisible by 3. For example, Armenian Գ
the number 21 is divisible by three (3 times 7) and the sum of its digits is 2 + 1 = 3. Because of this, Malayalam ൩
the reverse of any number that is divisible by three (or indeed, any permutation of its digits) is also Tamil ௩
divisible by three. For instance, 1368 and its reverse 8631 are both divisible by three (and so are 1386,
Telugu ౩
3168, 3186, 3618, etc.). See also Divisibility rule. This works in base 10 and in any positional numeral
system whose base divided by three leaves a remainder of one (bases 4, 7, 10, etc.).
Kannada ೩
Thai ๓
N'Ko ߃
Properties of the number
Lao ໓
3 is the second smallest prime number and the first odd prime number. It is the first unique prime, Georgian Ⴂ/ⴂ/გ (Gani)
such that the period length value of 1 of the decimal expansion of its reciprocal, 0.333..., is unique. 3 Babylonian 𒐗
numeral
is a twin prime with 5, and a cousin prime with 7, and the only known number such that ! − 1 and
! + 1 are prime, as well as the only prime number such that − 1 yields another prime number, 2. Maya numerals •••

A triangle is made of three sides. It is the smallest non-self-intersecting polygon and the only polygon Morse code ... _ _
not to have proper diagonals. When doing quick estimates, 3 is a rough approximation of π, 3.1415...,
and a very rough approximation of e, 2.71828...
3 is the first Mersenne prime, as well as the second Mersenne prime exponent and the second double Mersenne prime exponent, for 7 and 127,
respectively. 3 is also the first of five known Fermat primes, which include 5, 17, 257, and 65537. It is the second Fibonacci prime (and the second
Lucas prime), the second Sophie Germain prime, the third Harshad number in base 10, and the second factorial prime, as it is equal to 2! + 1.

3 is the second and only prime triangular number,[5] and Gauss proved that every integer is the sum of at most 3 triangular numbers.

Three is the only prime which is one less than a perfect square. Any other number which is − 1 for some integer is not prime, since it is ( −
1)( + 1). This is true for 3 as well (with = 2), but in this case the smaller factor is 1. If is greater than 2, both − 1 and + 1 are greater than 1
so their product is not prime.

Related properties

The trisection of the angle was one of the three famous problems of antiquity.

3 is the number of non-collinear points needed to determine a plane, a circle, and a parabola of prespecified orientation.

There are only three distinct 4×4 panmagic squares.

Three of the five Platonic solids have triangular faces – the tetrahedron, the octahedron, and the icosahedron. Also, three of the five Platonic solids
have vertices where three faces meet – the tetrahedron, the hexahedron (cube), and the dodecahedron. Furthermore, only three different types of
polygons comprise the faces of the five Platonic solids – the triangle, the square, and the pentagon.

There are three finite convex uniform polytope groups in three dimensions, aside from the infinite families of prisms and antiprisms: the
tetrahedral group, the octahedral group, and the icosahedral group. In dimensions ⩾ 5, there are only three regular polytopes: the -simplexes, -
cubes, and -orthoplexes. In dimensions ⩾ 9, the only three uniform polytope families, aside from the numerous infinite proprismatic families,
are the simplex, cubic, and demihypercubic families. For paracompact hyperbolic honeycombs, there are three groups in dimensions 6
and 9, or equivalently of ranks 7 and 10, with no other forms in higher dimensions. Of the final three groups, the largest and most important is ,
[6]
that is associated with an important Kac–Moody Lie algebra .

Numeral systems

There is some evidence to suggest that early man may have used counting systems which consisted of "One, Two, Three" and thereafter "Many" to
describe counting limits. Early peoples had a word to describe the quantities of one, two, and three but any quantity beyond was simply denoted as
"Many". This is most likely based on the prevalence of this phenomenon among people in such disparate regions as the deep Amazon and Borneo
jungles, where western civilization's explorers have historical records of their first encounters with these indigenous people.[7]

List of basic calculations

Multiplication 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 50 100 1000 10000

3×x 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 150 300 3000 30000

Division 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

3÷x 3 1.5 1 0.75 0.6 0.5 0.428571 0.375 0.3 0.3 0.27 0.25 0.230769 0.2142857 0.2 0.1875 0.17647058823529411 0.16 0.157894736842105263 0.15

x÷3 0.3 0.6 1 1.3 1.6 2 2.3 2.6 3 3.3 3.6 4 4.3 4.6 5 5.3 5.6 6 6.3 6.6

Exponentiation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
x
3 3 9 27 81 243 729 2187 6561 19683 59049 177147 531441 1594323 4782969 14348907 43046721 129140163 387420489 1162261467 3486784401
3
x 1 8 27 64 125 216 343 512 729 1000 1331 1728 2197 2744 3375 4096 4913 5832 6859 8000

Engineering

The triangle, a polygon with three edges and three vertices, is the most stable physical shape. For this reason it is widely utilized in construction,
engineering and design.[8]

Pseudoscience

Three is the symbolic representation for Mu, Augustus Le Plongeon's and James Churchward's lost continent.[9]
Religion

Symbol of the Triple Goddess

showing the waxing, full and waning
Moon

Many world religions contain triple deities or concepts of trinity, including the Hindu Trimurti and Tridevi, the Triglav (lit. "Three-headed one"), the
chief god of the Slavs, the three Jewels of Buddhism, the three Pure Ones of Taoism, the Christian Holy Trinity, and the Triple Goddess of Wicca.

The Shield of the Trinity is a diagram

of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

As a lucky or unlucky number

三, formal writing: 叁, pinyin sān, Cantonese: saam ) is considered a good number in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word "alive"
Three ( 1

(生 pinyin shēng, Cantonese: saang ), compared to four (四, pinyin: sì, Cantonese: sei ), which sounds like the word "death" (死 pinyin sǐ, Cantonese:
1 1

sei2).

There is another superstition that it is unlucky to take a third light, that is, to be the third person to light a cigarette from the same match or lighter.
This superstition is sometimes asserted to have originated among soldiers in the trenches of the First World War when a sniper might see the first
light, take aim on the second and fire on the third.

The phrase "Third time's the charm" refers to the superstition that after two failures in any endeavor, a third attempt is more likely to succeed.[10]
This is also sometimes seen in reverse, as in "third man [to do something, presumably forbidden] gets caught".

Luck, especially bad luck, is often said to "come in threes".[11]

See also

Cube (algebra) – (3 superscript)

Mathematics portal
Thrice

Third

Triad

Trio

Rule of three

ɜ, U+025C ɜ latin small letter reversed open e also known as Reversed epsilon

Footnotes

1.^ Gaussian primes are Gaussian integers that are also ordinary primes but cannot be factored by another Gaussian integer. A Gaussian integer
is a complex number in the form (a + bi) where a — the real part — and b — the imaginary part — are both integers. For example, 13 is an ordinary
prime, but is the product of the complex number (3+2i) and its conjugate (3-2i) therefore not a Gaussian prime. Ordinary primes that satisfy |a| ≡
3 (mod 4) are Gaussian primes. [12]
References

1. "Merriam-Webster Dictionary" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/ 7. Gribbin, Mary; Gribbin, John R.; Edney, Ralph; Halliday, Nicholas
dictionary/three) . Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved December 5, (2003). Big numbers. Cambridge: Wizard. ISBN 1840464313.
2024.
8. "Most stable shape- triangle (https://web.archive.org/web/201204
2. Smith, David Eugene; Karpinski, Louis Charles (1911). The Hindu- 12203618/http://www.mathsinthecity.com/sites/most-stable-shap
Arabic numerals (https://archive.org/details/hinduarabicnumer00s e-triangle) ". Maths in the city. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
mitrich/) . Boston; London: Ginn and Company. pp. 27–29, 40–41.
9. Churchward, James (1931). "The Lost Continent of Mu – Symbols,
3. Georges Ifrah, The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to Vignettes, Tableaux and Diagrams" (http://www.bibliotecapleyade
the Invention of the Computer transl. David Bellos et al. London: s.net/atlantida_mu/contmu/contmu09.htm) . Biblioteca Pleyades.
The Harvill Press (1998): 393, Fig. 24.63 Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150718115213/http://w
ww.bibliotecapleyades.net/atlantida_mu/contmu/contmu09.ht
4. Priya Hemenway (2005), Divine Proportion: Phi In Art, Nature, and
m) from the original on 2015-07-18. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
Science, Sterling Publishing Company Inc., pp. 53–54, ISBN 1-
4027-3522-7 10. "Definition of THE THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM" (https://www.merri
am-webster.com/dictionary/the%20third%20time%20is%20the%20
5. "A000217 - OEIS" (https://oeis.org/A000217) . oeis.org. Retrieved
charm) . www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2024-12-08.
2024-11-28.
11. See "bad (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-bad.html)
6. Allcock, Daniel (May 2018). "Prenilpotent Pairs in the E10 root
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20090302124523/http://w
lattice" (https://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/allcock/research/prenilp
ww.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-bad.html) 2009-03-02 at the
otent.pdf) (PDF). Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge
Wayback Machine" in the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
Philosophical Society. 164 (3): 473–483.
2006, via Encyclopedia.com.
Bibcode:2018MPCPS.164..473A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/ab
s/2018MPCPS.164..473A) . doi:10.1017/S0305004117000287 (h 12. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/GaussianPrime.html
ttps://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0305004117000287) .
S2CID 8547735 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:854773
5) . Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20221103135851/http
s://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/allcock/research/prenilpotent.pdf)
(PDF) from the original on 2022-11-03. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
"The details of the previous section were E10-specific, but the
same philosophy looks likely to apply to the other symmetrizable
hyperbolic root systems...it seems valuable to give an outline of
how the calculations would go", regarding E10 as a model
example of symmetrizability of other root hyperbolic En systems.

Wells, D. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers London: Penguin Group. (1987): 46–48

External links

Tricyclopedic Book of Threes (https://web.archive.org/web/20071023064015/http://threes.com/) by Michael Eck

Threes in Human Anatomy (http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/GrossAnatomy/Threes.html) by John A. McNulty

Grime, James. "3 is everywhere" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130514230849/http://www.numberphile.com/videos/three.html) .

Numberphile. Brady Haran. Archived from the original (http://www.numberphile.com/videos/three.html) on 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2013-04-13.

The Number 3 (https://web.archive.org/web/20140201161634/http://numdic.com/3)

The Positive Integer 3 (http://www.positiveintegers.org/3)

Prime curiosities: 3 (http://primes.utm.edu/curios/page.php/3.html)