46 (forty-six) is the

natural number In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country"). Numbers used for counting are called '' cardinal ...

following 45 and preceding 47.

In mathematics

Forty-six is * a Wedderburn-Etherington number, * an enneagonal number * a centered triangular number. * the number of parallelogram polyominoes with 6 cells. It is the sum of the

totient function In number theory, Euler's totient function counts the positive integers up to a given integer that are relatively prime to . It is written using the Greek letter phi as \varphi(n) or \phi(n), and may also be called Euler's phi function. In ot ...

for the first twelve integers. 46 is the largest even integer that cannot be expressed as a sum of two abundant numbers. It is also the sixteenth

semiprime 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 ...

. Since it is possible to find sequences of 46+1 consecutive integers such that each inner member shares a factor with either the first or the last member, 46 is an Erdős–Woods number.

In science

* 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 ever ...

palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself ...

. * The number of human chromosomes. * The approximate molar mass of

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

(46.07 g mol)

Astronomy

* Messier object M46, a magnitude 6.5

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, an ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellation ...

Puppis Puppis is a constellation in the southern sky. Puppis, the Latin translation of "poop deck", was originally part of an over-large constellation Argo Navis (the ship of Jason and the Argonauts), which centuries after its initial description, wa ...

. * The

New General Catalogue The ''New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (abbreviated NGC) is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxies, star clusters and ...

br>object

NGC 46 NGC 46, occasionally referred to as PGC 5067596, is an F8 star located approximately 962 ± 281 light-years from the Solar System in the constellation Pisces. It was first discovered on October 22, 1852 by Irish astronomer Edward Joshua Cooper ...

, a

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the constellation

Pisces Pisces may refer to: * Pisces, an obsolete (because of land vertebrates) taxonomic superclass including all fish *Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign *Pisces (constellation), a constellation ** Pisces Overdensity, an overdensity of stars in t ...

In music

* Japanese idol group franchise Sakamichi Series, which consists of Nogizaka46, Keyakizaka46, Hinatazaka46, and Yoshimotozaka46

In sports

Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi (; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed ''The Doctor'', he is widely considered to be one of the greatest motorcyc ...

, one of the most successful motorcycle riders of all time, uses 46 as his number in the

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

motorcycle world championship, and has been using this number in homage to his father since he started racing as a youngster. * The number of mountains in the '' 46 peaks'' of the Adirondack mountain range. People who have climbed all of them are called " forty-sixers"; there is also an unofficial 47th peak. * The name of a defensive scheme used in

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

; see

46 defense The 46 defense is an American football defensive formation, an eight men in the box defense, with six players along the line of scrimmage. There are two players at linebacker depth playing linebacker technique, and then three defensive backs. T ...

In religion

* The total of books in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

version, if the Book of Lamentations is counted as a book separate from the

Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the b ...

In other fields

Forty-six is also: * The

code for international direct dial Country calling codes or country dial-in codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching telephone subscribers in the networks of the member countries or regions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The codes are defined by the ...

phone calls to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. * The number of samurai, out of 47, who carried out the attack in the historical Ako vendetta; sometimes referred to as ''the 46 Ronins'' to discount the one samurai forced to turn back. * In the title of the movie '' Code 46'', starring

Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film '' The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and has won an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for his rol ...

and Samantha Morton. * Several routes numbered 46 exist throughout the world. * Because 46 in Japanese can be pronounced as "yon roku", and "yoroshiku"（よろしく） means "my best regards" in Japanese, people sometimes use 46 for greeting. * 46 is the number of the City Chevrolet and Superflo cars driven by Cole Trickle in the movie ''

Days of Thunder ''Days of Thunder'' is a 1990 American sports action drama film released by Paramount Pictures, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Tony Scott. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Ca ...

''. * The number of the French department Lot. * 46 is the number that unlocks the Destiny spaceship on the Sci-Fi TV show '' Stargate Universe''. Dr. Rush discovers that the number 46 relates to the number of human chromosomes and begins sequencing different genetic codes to finally gain control of the ship's operating system. The episode was called "Humans". * The number depicted in the first

flag of Oklahoma The flag of Oklahoma consists of a traditional Osage buffalo-skin shield with seven eagle feathers on a Choctaw sky blue field. The buffalo shield is covered by two symbols of peace: the Plains-style ceremonial pipe representing Native Ameri ...

(replaced in 1925), signifying the fact that Oklahoma was the 46th state to join the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. * Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

on January 20, 2021.

References

{{Integers, zero Integers