The number 18 holds a surprising number of significant meanings, appearing frequently in our daily lives, from common phrases to sports and mathematics.
The Korean phrase '애창곡 18번' (my favorite song, literally "number 18") has a fascinating origin in Kabuki, a traditional Japanese performance art. The 7th-generation master Ichikawa Danjūrō selected 18 representative plays from his family's lineage. The 18th play, in particular, became the most popular. This led to "number 18" becoming a colloquialism for one's favorite song, a phrase that later made its way to Korea.
In golf, a standard full course consists of 18 holes. The goal is to get the ball into each hole with the fewest strokes possible. A "par" is the standard number of strokes a skilled player is expected to take on a hole. There are three types of pars: par 3, par 4, and par 5. A typical 18-hole course includes four par-3 holes, ten par-4 holes, and four par-5 holes. Hitting par on all 18 holes results in a score of 72, which is known as "even par." The calculation is as follows: (3×4)+(4×10)+(5×4)=12+40+20=72. Achieving a "hole-in-one" (getting the ball into the hole with a single stroke) is a rare and celebrated feat, especially on a longer hole.
From a mathematical perspective, 18 is a number with a rich structure. It appears in multiplication tables, such as 2×9 and 3×6, because it has a relatively large number of divisors: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 18. The sum of its proper divisors (all divisors except the number itself) is 1+2+3+6+9=21. Since this sum is greater than 18, the number 18 is classified as an abundant number.
Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras categorized numbers into three groups based on the sum of their proper divisors:
Perfect numbers: The sum of the proper divisors equals the number itself (e.g., 6, where 1+2+3=6).
Deficient numbers: The sum of the proper divisors is less than the number itself.
Abundant numbers: The sum of the proper divisors is greater than the number itself (e.g., 12, where 1+2+3+4+6=16>12).
Pythagoras considered perfect numbers to be the most special.
Beyond these examples, the number 18 is found in other contexts, such as 18-karat gold, which signifies a specific level of purity, and the legal age of adulthood in many countries. The number 18 is more than just a digit; it's a number woven into the fabric of our culture, sports, and even the fundamental principles of mathematics.
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