Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second smallest composite number, behind 4; its proper divisors are , and .
Since 6 equals the sum of its proper divisors, it is a perfect number; 6 is the smallest of the perfect numbers. It is also the smallest Granville number, or -perfect number.
As a perfect number:
*6 is related to the Mersenne prime 3, since . (The next perfect number is 28.)
*6 is the only even perfect number that is not the sum of successive odd cubes.
*6 is the root of the 6-aliquot tree, and is itself the
aliquot sum
In number theory, the aliquot sum ''s''(''n'') of a positive integer ''n'' is the sum of all proper divisors of ''n'', that is, all divisors of ''n'' other than ''n'' itself.
That is,
:s(n)=\sum\nolimits_d.
It can be used to characterize the prime ...
of only one other number; the square number, .
Six is the only number that is both the sum and the product of three consecutive positive numbers.
Unrelated to 6's being a perfect number, a
Golomb ruler
In mathematics, a Golomb ruler is a set of marks at integer positions along a ruler such that no two pairs of marks are the same distance apart. The number of marks on the ruler is its ''order'', and the largest distance between two of its m ...
of length 6 is a "perfect ruler". Six is a congruent number.
Six is the first discrete biprime (2 × 3) and the first member of the (2 × ''q'') discrete
biprime
In mathematics, a semiprime is a natural number that is the product of exactly two prime numbers. The two primes in the product may equal each other, so the semiprimes include the squares of prime numbers.
Because there are infinitely many prime n ...
harmonic divisor number
In mathematics, a harmonic divisor number, or Ore number (named after Øystein Ore who defined it in 1948), is a positive integer whose divisors have a harmonic mean that is an integer. The first few harmonic divisor numbers are:
: 1, 6, 28, ...
and a
superior highly composite number
In mathematics, a superior highly composite number is a natural number which has the highest ratio of its number of divisors to ''some'' positive power of itself than any other number. It is a stronger restriction than that of a highly composite ...
, the last to also be a primorial.
There are no Graeco-Latin squares with order 6. If ''n'' is a natural number that is not 2 or 6, then there is a Graeco-Latin square with order ''n''.
There is not a prime such that the multiplicative order of 2 modulo is 6, that is,
By
Zsigmondy's theorem
In number theory, Zsigmondy's theorem, named after Karl Zsigmondy, states that if a>b>0 are coprime integers, then for any integer n \ge 1, there is a prime number ''p'' (called a ''primitive prime divisor'') that divides a^n-b^n and does not ...
, if is a natural number that is not 1 or 6, then there is a prime such that . See for such .
The ring of integer of the sixth cyclotomic field , which is called Eisenstein integer, has 6 units: ±1, ±ω, ±ω2, where .
The smallest non-
abelian group
In mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is comm ...
is the symmetric group ''S''3 which has 3! = 6 elements.
''S''6, with 720 = 6 !elements, is the only finite symmetric group which has an outer automorphism. This automorphism allows us to construct a number of exceptional mathematical objects such as the S(5,6,12)
Steiner system
250px, thumbnail, The Fano plane is a Steiner triple system S(2,3,7). The blocks are the 7 lines, each containing 3 points. Every pair of points belongs to a unique line.
In combinatorial mathematics, a Steiner system (named after Jakob Steiner) ...
, the projective plane of order 4 and the Hoffman-Singleton graph. A closely related result is the following theorem: 6 is the only natural number ''n'' for which there is a construction of ''n'' isomorphic objects on an ''n''-set ''A'', invariant under all permutations of ''A'', but not naturally in one-to-one correspondence with the elements of ''A''. This can also be expressed category theoretically: consider the
category
Category, plural categories, may refer to:
Philosophy and general uses
*Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally
*Category of being
* ''Categories'' (Aristotle)
*Category (Kant)
*Categories (Peirce)
*C ...
whose objects are the ''n'' element sets and whose arrows are the
bijection
In mathematics, a bijection, also known as a bijective function, one-to-one correspondence, or invertible function, is a function between the elements of two sets, where each element of one set is paired with exactly one element of the other ...
s between the sets. This category has a non-trivial functor to itself only for .
Six similar coins can be arranged around a central coin of the same radius so that each coin makes contact with the central one (and touches both its neighbors without a gap), but seven cannot be so arranged. This makes 6 the answer to the two-dimensional kissing number problem. The densest sphere packing of the plane is obtained by extending this pattern to the
hexagon
In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
Regular hexagon
A '' regular hexagon'' has ...
al lattice in which each circle touches just six others.
6 is the largest of the four
all-Harshad number
In mathematics, a harshad number (or Niven number) in a given number base is an integer that is divisible by the sum of its digits when written in that base.
Harshad numbers in base are also known as -harshad (or -Niven) numbers.
Harshad number ...
s.
A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of
tiling the plane
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of g ...
. Figurate numbers representing hexagons (including six) are called
hexagonal number
A hexagonal number is a figurate number. The ''n''th hexagonal number ''h'n'' is the number of ''distinct'' dots in a pattern of dots consisting of the ''outlines'' of regular hexagons with sides up to n dots, when the hexagons are overlaid so ...
s. Because 6 is the product of a power of 2 (namely 21) with nothing but distinct Fermat primes (specifically 3), a regular hexagon is a
constructible polygon
In mathematics, a constructible polygon is a regular polygon that can be constructed with compass and straightedge. For example, a regular pentagon is constructible with compass and straightedge while a regular heptagon is not. There are infinit ...
.
Six is also an
octahedral number
In number theory, an octahedral number is a figurate number that represents the number of spheres in an octahedron formed from close-packed spheres. The ''n''th octahedral number O_n can be obtained by the formula:.
:O_n=.
The first few octahed ...
. It is a
triangular number
A triangular number or triangle number counts objects arranged in an equilateral triangle. Triangular numbers are a type of figurate number, other examples being square numbers and cube numbers. The th triangular number is the number of dots in ...
and so is its square ().
There are six basic trigonometric functions.
There are six convex regular polytopes in four dimensions.
The six exponentials theorem guarantees (given the right conditions on the exponents) the transcendence of at least one of a set of exponentials.
All primes above 3 are of the form 6''n'' ± 1 for ''n'' ≥ 1.
6 is a
pronic number A pronic number is a number that is the product of two consecutive integers, that is, a number of the form n(n+1).. The study of these numbers dates back to Aristotle. They are also called oblong numbers, heteromecic numbers,. or rectangular number ...
and the only semiprime to be.
There are six different ways in which 100 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers -- 3 + 97, 11 + 89, 17 + 83, 29 + 71, 41 + 59 and 47 + 53.
List of basic calculations
Greek and Latin word parts
'
' is classical Greek for "six". Thus:
*" Hexadecimal" combines ' with the Latinate ' to name a
number base
In a positional numeral system, the radix or base is the number of unique digits, including the digit zero, used to represent numbers. For example, for the decimal/denary system (the most common system in use today) the radix (base number) is t ...
of 16
*A
hexagon
In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
Regular hexagon
A '' regular hexagon'' has ...
is a regular polygon with six sides
**' is a French nickname for the continental part of
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the Europea ...
for its resemblance to a
regular hexagon
In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
Regular hexagon
A '' regular hexagon'' has ...
*A hexahedron is a polyhedron with six faces, with a cube being a special case
* Hexameter is a poetic form consisting of six feet per line
*A "hex nut" is a nut with six sides, and a hex bolt has a six-sided head
*The prefix "" also occurs in the systematic name of many
chemical compound
A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one elemen ...
s, such as
hexane
Hexane () is an organic compound, a straight-chain alkane with six carbon atoms and has the molecular formula C6H14.
It is a colorless liquid, odorless when pure, and with boiling points approximately . It is widely used as a cheap, relatively ...
which has 6 carbon atoms ().
The prefix ''sex-''
''Sex-'' is a Latinprefix meaning "six". Thus:
*''Senary'' is the ordinal adjective meaning "sixth"
*People with sexdactyly have six fingers on each hand
*The measuring instrument called a
sextant
A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of cel ...
got its name because its shape forms one-sixth of a whole
circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
*A group of six musicians is called a sextet
*Six babies delivered in one birth are
sextuplet
A multiple birth is the culmination of one multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such ...
s
* Sexy prime pairs – Prime pairs differing by six are ''sexy'', because sex is the Latin word for six.
The
SI prefix
The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...
for 10006 is
exa-
A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or submultiple of the unit. All metric prefixes used today are decadic. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to any unit symbol. The pre ...
The evolution of our modern digit 6 appears rather simple when compared with the other digits. The modern 6 can be traced back to the
Brahmi numerals
The Brahmi numerals are a numeral system attested from the 3rd century BCE (somewhat later in the case of most of the tens). They are a non positional decimal system. They are the direct graphic ancestors of the modern Hindu–Arabic numeral s ...
Edicts of Ashoka
The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire who reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expre ...
circa 250 BCE. It was written in one stroke like a cursive lowercase e rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Gradually, the upper part of the stroke (above the central squiggle) became more curved, while the lower part of the stroke (below the central squiggle) became straighter. The Arabs dropped the part of the stroke below the squiggle. From there, the European evolution to our modern 6 was very straightforward, aside from a flirtation with a glyph that looked more like an uppercase G.
On the seven-segment displays of calculators and watches, 6 is usually written with six segments. Some historical calculator models use just five segments for the 6, by omitting the top horizontal bar. This glyph variant has not caught on; for calculators that can display results in hexadecimal, a 6 that looks like a "b" is not practical.
Just as in most modern typefaces, in typefaces with text figures the character for the digit 6 usually has an ascender, as, for example, in .
This digit resembles an inverted ''9''. To disambiguate the two on objects and documents that can be inverted, the 6 has often been underlined, both in handwriting and on printed labels.
In music
In artists
*' ("The Six" in English) was a group consisting of the French composers , , , , and in the 1920s
* Bands with the number six in their name include Six Organs of Admittance, 6 O'Clock Saints,
Electric Six
Electric Six is a six-piece American rock band formed in 1996 in Detroit, Michigan. Their music was described by AllMusic as a combination of garage, disco, punk rock, new wave, and metal. The band achieved recognition in 2003 with the sin ...
,
Eve 6
Eve 6 is an American rock band formed in 1995 in Southern California, best known for their hit singles " Inside Out," "Leech," " Here's to the Night," and "Promise." They disbanded in 2004, returned for numerous tours in 2007 with a new lineu ...
,
Los Xey
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significan ...
(' is Basque for "six"), Out On Blue Six, Six In Six,
Sixpence None the Richer
Sixpence None the Richer (also known as Sixpence) is an American Christian alternative rock band that formed in New Braunfels, Texas, and eventually settled in Nashville, Tennessee. They are best known for their songs " Kiss Me" and " Breathe Yo ...
,
Slant 6
Slant 6 was an American punk rock trio based in Washington, D.C. affiliated with early riot grrrl.
Slant 6 consisted of Christina Billotte (electric guitar and vocals), Myra Power (electric bass guitar and vocals), and Marge Marshall (drum se ...
, Vanity 6, and You Me At Six
* #6 is the pseudonym of
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
*A standard guitar has six strings
*Most woodwind instruments have six basic holes or keys (e.g., bassoon, clarinet, pennywhistle, saxophone); these holes or keys are usually not given numbers or letters in the fingering charts
In music theory
*There are six whole tones in an octave.
*There are six semitones in a tritone.
In works
*"Six geese a-laying" were given as a present on the sixth day in the popular
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...
Hexachordum Apollinis
''Hexachordum Apollinis'' (PWC 193–8, T. 211–6, PC 131–6, POP 1–6) is a collection of keyboard music by Johann Pachelbel, published in 1699. It comprises six arias with variations, on original themes, and is generally regarded as one of th ...
'' is generally regarded as one of the pinnacles of Johann Pachelbel's oeuvre.
*The theme of the sixth album by Dream Theater, ''
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'' is the sixth full-length studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater, released as a double-disc album on January 29, 2002 through Elektra Records. Excluding the '' A Change of Seasons'' EP, it is the ...
'', was the number six: the album has six songs, and the sixth song — that is, the complete second disc — explores the stories of six individuals suffering from various mental illnesses.
* Aristotle gave six elements of tragedy, the first of which is
Mythos
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
took six days to create the world in the Old Testament
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning"). ...
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...
suggested (book 11, chapter 30) that God's creation of the world took six days because 6 is a perfect number.
**The Jewish holiday of
Shavuot
(''Ḥag HaShavuot'' or ''Shavuos'')
, nickname = English: "Feast of Weeks"
, observedby = Jews and Samaritans
, type = Jewish and Samaritan
, begins = 6th day of Sivan (or the Sunday following the 6th day of Sivan in ...
starts on the sixth day of the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
month of Sivan
** Seraphs have six wings.
*In Islam:
**There are Six articles of belief
**Fasting six days of Shawwal, together with the month of Ramadan, is equivalent to fasting the whole year
*In
Hindu theology
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, a '' trasarenu'' is the combination of six celestial (
atoms
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas, and ...
Huang Di Huangdi () may refer to:
* Yellow Emperor (黃帝), a legendary Chinese monarch who supposedly ruled before the Xia dynasty
*Emperor of China (皇帝), the imperial title of Chinese monarchs; and the superlative monarchical title in the Sinosphere
...
In science
Astronomy
*
Messier object
The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his ''Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles'' (''Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters'').
Because Messier was only in ...
open cluster
An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...
Butterfly Cluster
The Butterfly Cluster (cataloged as Messier 6 or M6, and as NGC 6405) is an open cluster of stars in the southern constellation of Scorpius. Its name derives from the vague resemblance of its shape to a butterfly. The Trumpler classification of ...
spiral galaxy
Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''constellationAndromeda
*The Roman numeral VI:
**Stands for subdwarfs in the Yerkes spectral classification scheme
**(Usually) stands for the sixth-discovered satellite of a planet or minor planet (e.g.
Jupiter VI
Himalia (), or Jupiter VI, is the largest irregular satellite of Jupiter, with a diameter of at least . It is the sixth largest Jovian satellite, after the four Galilean moons and Amalthea. It was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at the ...
)
*
6 Hebe
Hebe ( minor planet designation: 6 Hebe) is a large main-belt asteroid, containing around 0.5% of the mass of the belt. However, due to its apparently high bulk density (greater than that of the Moon or even Mars), Hebe does not rank among the ...
Biology
*The cells of a
beehive
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
Insects
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of ...
have six
leg
A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element c ...
Plantae
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude ...
Protista
A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the e ...
Archaeabacteria
Archaea ( ; singular archaeon ) is a domain of single-celled organisms. These microorganisms lack cell nuclei and are therefore prokaryotes. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (in the Archaebac ...
Eubacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...
. See
Kingdom (biology)
In biology, a kingdom is the second highest taxonomic rank, just below domain. Kingdoms are divided into smaller groups called phyla.
Traditionally, some textbooks from the United States and Canada used a system of six kingdoms (Animalia, Plan ...
.
*The six elements most common in biomolecules are called the CHNOPS elements; the letters stand for the chemical abbreviations of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. See CHON.
Chemistry
*A benzene molecule has a ring of six carbon atoms.
*6 is the
atomic number
The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
hexagon
In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°.
Regular hexagon
A '' regular hexagon'' has ...
*There are six tastes in traditional Indian medicine (
Ayurveda
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repor ...
): sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent. These tastes are used to suggest a diet based on the symptoms of the body.
*Phase 6 is one of six pandemic influenza phases.
Physics
*In the Standard Model of particle physics, there are six types of
quarks
A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...
and six types of
leptons
In particle physics, a lepton is an elementary particle of half-integer spin (spin ) that does not undergo strong interactions. Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons (also known as the electron-like leptons or muons), and neutra ...
.
*In
statistical mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic be ...
, the
six-vertex model In statistical mechanics, the ice-type models or six-vertex models are a family of vertex models for crystal lattices with hydrogen bonds. The first such model was introduced by Linus Pauling in 1935 to account for the residual entropy of water ice ...
has six possible configurations of arrows at each vertex
*There are six colors in the RGB color wheel: (primary) red, blue, green, (secondary) cyan, magenta, and yellow. (See
Tertiary color
A tertiary color or intermediate color is a color made by mixing full saturation of one primary color with half saturation of another primary color and none of a third primary color, in a given color space such as RGB, CMYK (more modern) or RYB ...
)
*In
three-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called '' parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the inform ...
moment
Moment or Moments may refer to:
* Present time
Music
* The Moments, American R&B vocal group Albums
* ''Moment'' (Dark Tranquillity album), 2020
* ''Moment'' (Speed album), 1998
* ''Moments'' (Darude album)
* ''Moments'' (Christine Guldbrand ...
through each of three possible
orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''.
By extension, orthogonality is also used to refer to the separation of specific features of a system. The term also has specialized meanings in ...
plane
Plane(s) most often refers to:
* Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft
* Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface
Plane or planes may also refer to:
Biology
* Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant
* ''Planes' ...
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* ...
,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
, and Detroit. They are the oldest remaining teams in the league, though not necessarily the first six; they comprised the entire league from
1942
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in ...
to
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
.
* Number of players:
** In association football (soccer), the number of substitutes combined by both teams, that are allowed in the game.
** In
box lacrosse
Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada in the 1930s, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's officia ...
, the number of players per team, including the goaltender, that are on the floor at any one time, excluding penalty situations.
** In ice hockey, the number of players per team, including the goaltender, that are on the ice at any one time during regulation play, excluding penalty situations. (Some leagues reduce the number of players on the ice during overtime.)
** In volleyball:
*** Six players from each team on each side play against each other.
*** Standard rules only allow six total substitutions per team per set. (Substitutions involving the libero, a defensive specialist who can only play in the back row, are not counted against this limit.)
**
Six-man football
Six-man football is a variant of gridiron football played with six players per team, instead of the standard 11 or 12. It is generally played by high schools in rural areas of the United States and Canada.
History
Six-man football was developed ...
is a variant of American or Canadian football, played by smaller schools with insufficient enrollment to field the traditional 11-man (American) or 12-man (Canadian) squad.
* Scoring:
** In both
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
and
Canadian football
Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area (e ...
, 6 points are awarded for a touchdown.
** In
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
, 6 points are awarded for a goal, scored when a kicked ball passes between the defending team's two inner goalposts without having been touched by another player.
** In
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
,
six runs
In cricket, the boundary is the perimeter of a playing field. It is also the term given to a scoring shot where the ball is hit to, or beyond, that perimeter, which generally earns four or six runs for the batting team.
Edge of the field
The b ...
are scored for the batting team when the ball is hit to the boundary or the ground beyond it without having touched the ground in the field.
* In
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
, the
ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used fo ...
used for women's full-court competitions is designated "size 6".
* In most rugby league competitions (but not the Super League, which uses static squad numbering), the jersey number 6 is worn by the starting (Southern Hemisphere term) or (Northern Hemisphere term).
* In rugby union, the starting blindside flanker wears jersey number 6. (Some teams use "left" and "right" flankers instead of "openside" and "blindside", with 6 being worn by the starting left flanker.)
In technology
*On most phones, the 6 key is associated with the letters M, N, and O, but on the BlackBerry Pearl it is the key for J and K, and on the BlackBerry 8700 series and Curve 8900 with full keyboard, it is the key for F
*The "
6-meter band
The 6-meter band is the lowest portion of the very high frequency (VHF) radio spectrum internationally allocated to amateur radio use. The term refers to the average signal wavelength of 6 meters.
Although located in the lower portion of t ...
" in
amateur radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communica ...
Sextilis
Sextilis ("sixth") or ''mensis Sextilis'' was the Latin name for what was originally the sixth month in the Roman calendar, when March ('' Martius'', "Mars' month") was the first of ten months in the year. After the calendar reform that produced ...
June
June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...
*The number of sides on a cube, hence the highest number on a standard die
*The six-sided tiles on a hex grid are used in many tabletop and
board games
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
.
*The highest number on one end of a standard
domino
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...
Comics and cartoons
*''
The Super 6
''The Super 6'' is an animated cartoon series which was produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Mirisch-Rich Television Productions in 1966, and shown on the NBC television network from 1966 to 1969. This was DePatie–Freleng's first vehicl ...
'', a 1966 animated cartoon series featuring six different super-powered heroes.
Literature
*''
The Power of Six
''The Power of Six'' is the second book in the young adult science fiction series ''Lorien Legacies'', written by Pittacus Lore (James Frey and Jobie Hughes). It is the sequel to '' I Am Number Four'', and was released August 23, 2011 by HarperC ...
'' is a book written by Pittacus Lore, and the second in the Lorien Legacies series.
*Number 6 is a character in the book series Lorien Legacies
TV
* Number Six ( Tricia Helfer), is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series, ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series ('' Galactica 1980''), a line of ...
''
*Number 6, the main protagonist in ''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
Jim Caviezel
James Patrick Caviezel Jr. (; born September 26, 1968) is an American film and television actor who played Jesus Christ in '' The Passion of the Christ'' (2004) and starred as John Reese on the CBS series '' Person of Interest'' (2011–2016). ...
in the remake.
*Six is a character in the television series ''
Blossom
In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring.
Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as we ...
'' played by
Jenna von Oÿ
Jennifer Jean "Jenna" von Oÿ (born May 2, 1977) is an American actress, singer and author. She played the role of Dorothy "Six" LeMeure in the NBC sitcom ''Blossom'' and Stevie Van Lowe in the UPN sitcom ''The Parkers'', the spin-off series o ...
.
*Six is the nickname of Kal Varrik, a central character in the television series ''
Dark Matter
Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not a ...
'', played by Roger Cross.
*'' Six'' is a History channel series that chronicles the operations and daily lives of SEAL Team Six.
*'' Six Feet Under'', an
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...
series that ran from 2005 to 2011.
Movies
*Number 6 (
Teresa Palmer
Teresa Mary Palmer (born 26 February 1986) is an Australian actress. She began her career with roles in '' Bedtime Stories'' (2008), ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' (2010), '' Take Me Home Tonight'' (2011), and '' I Am Number Four'' (2011). She r ...
) is a character in the movie ''
I Am Number Four
''I Am Number Four'' is a young adult science fiction novel by Pittacus Lore (the pseudonym of James Frey and Jobie Hughes) and the first book in the ''Lorien Legacies'' series. The book was published by HarperCollins on August 3, 2010, and spe ...
'' (2011).
*''
The 6th Day
''The 6th Day'' is a 2000 American science fiction action film directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rapaport, and Robert Duvall. In the film, a family man of the future is illegally cloned by ...
'' (2000), starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an Indian-American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. He was born in Mahé, India, and raise ...
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series '' Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero ...
.
*''
Girl 6
''Girl 6'' is a 1996 American black comedy film produced and directed by Spike Lee. The film stars Theresa Randle, Isaiah Washington, and Lee. Suzan-Lori Parks wrote the screenplay, making it the first film directed by Lee in which he did not wri ...
* ''Six'' is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII presented as a pop concert.
Anthropology
*The name of the smallest group of
Cub Scout
Cub Scouts, Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programs associated with Scouting for young children usually between 7 and 12, depending on the organization to which they belong. A participant in the program is called a Cub. A group of Cubs is called a 'P ...
s and Guiding's equivalent Brownies, traditionally consisting of six people and is led by a "sixer".
*A
coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation.
Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewe ...
is traditionally buried six feet under the ground; thus, the phrase "six feet under" means that a person (or thing, or concept) is dead
*There are said to be no more than six degrees of separation between any two people on Earth.
*In Western astrology, Virgo is the 6th astrological sign of the Zodiac
*The
Six Dynasties
Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD. The Six Dynasties period overlapped with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms ...
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the C ...
were a British miscarriage of justice, held in prison for 16 years.
*"Six" is used as an informal slang term for the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.
In other fields
* Six pack is a common form of packaging for six bottles or cans of drink (especially beer), and by extension, other assemblages of six items.
*In Pythagorean numerology (a pseudoscience), the number 6 is the digit of balance, harmony and organization of the home and family
*The fundamental
flight instruments
Flight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with data about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, heading and much more other crucial information in f ...
lumped together on a cockpit display are often called the Basic Six or six-pack.
*The number of dots in a
braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille display ...
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
"Six" as part of a
radio call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...
is used by the commanding officer of a unit, while subordinate platoon leaders usually go by "One". (For a similar example see also: Rainbow Six.)
See also
*
List of highways numbered 6
Route 6, or Highway 6, may refer to routes in the following countries:
International
* Asian Highway 6
* European route E6
* European route E006
Albania
* National Road SH6
Argentina
* Buenos Aires Provincial Route 6
Australia New ...
References
*''The Odd Number 6'', JA Todd, Math. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 41 (1945) 66–68
*''A Property of the Number Six'', Chapter 6, P Cameron, JH v. Lint, ''Designs, Graphs, Codes and their Links''
*Wells, D. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers'' London: Penguin Group. (1987): 67 - 69