5 (number)

This article discusses the number five. For the year 5 AD, see 5. For other uses of 5, see 5 (disambiguation)</center>

<tr><td>Hebrew<td>ה (He)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> List of numbers -- Integers 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 >>
Cardinal	5 five
Ordinal	5^th fifth
Numeral system	quinary
Factorization	prime
Divisors	1, 5
Roman numeral	V
Unicode representation of Roman numeral	Ⅴ, ⅴ
prefixes	penta-/pent- (from Greek) quinque-/quinqu-/quint- (from Latin)
Binary	101
Octal	5
Duodecimal	5
Hexadecimal	5

5 (five) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the natural number following 4 and preceding 6.

The SI prefix for 1000⁵ is peta (P), and for its reciprocal femto (f).

Contents

1 Evolution of the glyph

2 In mathematics

2.1 In numbering systems

3 In science

3.1 In astronomy

4 In various cultures

5 In music

6 In other fields

Evolution of the glyph

Missing image
Evolution5glyph.png
Image:Evolution5glyph.png

The evolution of our modern glyph for five cannot be neatly traced back to the Brahmin Indians quite the same way it can for 1 to 4. Later on the Kushana and Gupta Indians had among themselves several different glyphs which bear no resemblance to the modern glyph. The Nagari and Punjabi took these glyphs and all came up with glyphs that look like a lowercase "h" mirrored and turned upside down. The Ghubar Arabs transformed the glyph in several different ways, coming up with glyphs that look more like 4s or 3s than 5s. It was from those characters that the Europeans finally came up with the modern 5, though from purely graphical evidence, it would be much easier to conclude that our modern 5 came from the Khmer.

In fonts with text figures, 5 usually has a descender, for example, Missing image
TextFigs256.png
Image:TextFigs256.png

.

In mathematics

Five is the third smallest prime number, after 2 and 3, and before 7. Because it can be written as 2^(2^1)+1, five is classified as a Fermat prime. 5 is the third Sophie Germain prime, the first safe prime, and the third Mersenne prime exponent. Five is the first Wilson prime and the third factorial prime.

Five is the only prime number to end in the digit 5, because all other numbers written with a 5 in the ones-place under the decimal system are multiples of five. As a consequence of this, 5 is in base 10 a 1-automorphic number.

Five is a factor of 10, so vulgar fractions with 5 in the denominator do not yield infinite decimal expansions, unlike most other primes. When written in the decimal system, all multiples of 5 will end in either 5 or 0.

The number 5 is a Fibonacci number, being 2 plus 3. The next Fibonacci number is 8. 5 is also a Pell number.

While polynomial equations of degree 4 and below can be solved with radicals, equations of degree 5 and higher cannot generally be so solved. This is the Abel-Ruffini theorem. This is related to the fact that the symmetric group S_n is a solvable group for n ≤ 4 and not solvable for n ≥ 5.

While all graphs with 4 or fewer vertices are planar, there exists a graph with 5 vertices which is not planar: K₅, the complete graph with 5 vertices.

Five is also the number of Platonic solids.

A polygon with five sides is a pentagon. Figurate numbers representing pentagons (including five) are called pentagonal numbers. Five is also a square pyramidal number.

Five is the answer to the question asked at the very end of the mathematics quiz show in the movie Little Man Tate. (Our young protagonist blurts out the answer, but the host mishears it as being the answer from the contestant to whom the question is posed, and declares him the winner.)

In numbering systems

In binary code five is 101
In ternary code five is 12
In quaternary numeral system code five is 11
In quinary five is 10; in senary code and all codes above (such as octal, decimal and hexadecimal) five is 5.
The Roman numeral for five is V, which comes from a representation of an outstretched hand.
In the Greek alphabet, ε (epsilon) has numerical value of 5.
In the Hebrew alphabet, ה (heh) has numerical value of 5.
In the Cyrillic alphabet, Е has numerical value of 5.
In the Glagolitic alphabet, Missing image
GlagolitsaDobro.gif
Image:GlagolitsaDobro.gif

(dobro) has numerical value of 5.
The kanji and Chinese character for five are both 五, and its formal writing in Chinese is 伍 (pinyin wǔ).

In science

The number of appendages on most starfish, which exhibit pentamerism.
Almost all amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals which have fingers or toes have five of them on each extremity.
The maximum category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, the most damaging.
The atomic number of boron.

In astronomy

Messier object M5, a magnitude 7.0 globular cluster in the constellation Serpens.
The New General Catalogue object NGC 5, a magnitude 13 spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda
The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on April 4, 2720 BC and ended on May 24, 1422 BC. The duration of Saros series 5 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 solar eclipses.
The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on -2581 October 8 and ended on -1084 March 24. The duration of Saros series 5 was 1496.5 years, and it contained 84 lunar eclipses.

In various cultures

There are five basic "pillars" of Islam.
Muslims pray to Allah five times a day (Muhammad was said to have bargained it down with Allah from fifty).
According to the Maya mythology, we are now living in the Fifth World.
In the Oriental tradition, there are five elements (water, fire, earth, wood and metal). The Japanese names for the days of the week Tuesday through Saturday come from these elements, rather than from the norse mythology.
In Cantonese, five sounds like the word "not" (symbol 唔). So when five appears in front of a lucky number, e.g. 58, the result is considered unlucky.

In music

Using the Latin root, five musicians are called a quintet. One such group whose name celebrates their fiveness are the Jackson Five. (In an episode of Will & Grace guest-starring Janet Jackson, she declared that 5 is a mystical number and for that reason she must have precisely 5 backup dancers).
The name of the band The Fifth Dimension implies that they are transcending beyond even the fourth dimension (time) into a new inner dimension.
There was a British boy band called 5ive.
Other bands with "five" in their name include We Five and the Five Stairsteps.
The Dave Clark Five and the Ben Folds Five both named themselves after their lead singers, with an implied four others.
The Vogues song "Five-o'clock World" came in reference to the hours 9 to 5 (ending at 5 p.m.), which are the hours of a standard work day. There are also five working days (non-week-ends) in a week.
5 is an album by Lenny Kravitz.
"Take Five" is a famous jazz standard composed by Paul Desmond. It counts five beats per bar.