5 (five) is a
number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
,
numeral and
digit. It is the
natural number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on, possibly excluding 0. Some start counting with 0, defining the natural numbers as the non-negative integers , while others start with 1, defining them as the positive in ...
, and
cardinal number
In mathematics, a cardinal number, or cardinal for short, is what is commonly called the number of elements of a set. In the case of a finite set, its cardinal number, or cardinality is therefore a natural number. For dealing with the cas ...
, following
4 and preceding
6, and is a
prime number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...
.
Humans, and many other animals, have 5
digits on their
limbs.
Mathematics
5 is a
Fermat prime
In mathematics, a Fermat number, named after Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665), the first known to have studied them, is a positive integer of the form:F_ = 2^ + 1, where ''n'' is a non-negative integer. The first few Fermat numbers are: 3, 5, ...
, a
Mersenne prime
In mathematics, a Mersenne prime is a prime number that is one less than a power of two. That is, it is a prime number of the form for some integer . They are named after Marin Mersenne, a French Minim friar, who studied them in the early 1 ...
exponent, as well as a
Fibonacci number
In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...
. 5 is the first
congruent number, as well as the length of the
hypotenuse
In geometry, a hypotenuse is the side of a right triangle opposite to the right angle. It is the longest side of any such triangle; the two other shorter sides of such a triangle are called '' catheti'' or ''legs''. Every rectangle can be divided ...
of the smallest integer-sided
right triangle
A right triangle or right-angled triangle, sometimes called an orthogonal triangle or rectangular triangle, is a triangle in which two sides are perpendicular, forming a right angle ( turn or 90 degrees).
The side opposite to the right angle i ...
, making part of the smallest
Pythagorean triple
A Pythagorean triple consists of three positive integers , , and , such that . Such a triple is commonly written , a well-known example is . If is a Pythagorean triple, then so is for any positive integer . A triangle whose side lengths are a Py ...
(
3,
4, 5).
5 is the first
safe prime and the first
good prime. 11 forms the first pair of
sexy prime
In number theory, sexy primes are prime numbers that differ from each other by . For example, the numbers and are a pair of sexy primes, because both are prime and 11 - 5 = 6.
The term "sexy prime" is a pun stemming from the Latin word for six ...
s with 5. 5 is the second
Fermat prime
In mathematics, a Fermat number, named after Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665), the first known to have studied them, is a positive integer of the form:F_ = 2^ + 1, where ''n'' is a non-negative integer. The first few Fermat numbers are: 3, 5, ...
, of a total of five known Fermat primes. 5 is also the first of three known
Wilson prime
In number theory, a Wilson prime is a prime number p such that p^2 divides (p-1)!+1, where "!" denotes the factorial function; compare this with Wilson's theorem, which states that every prime p divides (p-1)!+1. Both are named for 18th-century ...
s (5, 13, 563).
Geometry
A shape with five sides is called a
pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
. The pentagon is the first
regular polygon
In Euclidean geometry, a regular polygon is a polygon that is Equiangular polygon, direct equiangular (all angles are equal in measure) and Equilateral polygon, equilateral (all sides have the same length). Regular polygons may be either ''convex ...
that does not
tile
Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wal ...
the
plane with copies of itself. It is the largest
face
The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...
any of the five regular three-dimensional regular
Platonic solid
In geometry, a Platonic solid is a Convex polytope, convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional space, three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the face (geometry), faces are congruence (geometry), congruent (id ...
can have.
A
conic
A conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, thou ...
is determined using
five points in the same way that two points are needed to determine a
line.
A
pentagram
A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...
, or five-pointed
polygram, is a
star polygon
In geometry, a star polygon is a type of non-convex polygon. Regular star polygons have been studied in depth; while star polygons in general appear not to have been formally defined, Decagram (geometry)#Related figures, certain notable ones can ...
constructed by connecting some non-adjacent of a
regular pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
as
self-intersecting edges. The internal geometry of the pentagon and pentagram (represented by its
Schläfli symbol
In geometry, the Schläfli symbol is a notation of the form \ that defines List of regular polytopes and compounds, regular polytopes and tessellations.
The Schläfli symbol is named after the 19th-century Swiss mathematician Ludwig Schläfli, wh ...
) appears prominently in
Penrose tilings. Pentagrams are
facet
Facets () are flat faces on geometric shapes. The organization of naturally occurring facets was key to early developments in crystallography, since they reflect the underlying symmetry of the crystal structure. Gemstones commonly have facets cu ...
s inside
Kepler–Poinsot star polyhedra and
Schläfli–Hess star polychora.
There are five regular
Platonic solid
In geometry, a Platonic solid is a Convex polytope, convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional space, three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the face (geometry), faces are congruence (geometry), congruent (id ...
s the
tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron (: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular Face (geometry), faces, six straight Edge (geometry), edges, and four vertex (geometry), vertices. The tet ...
, the
cube
A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
, the
octahedron
In geometry, an octahedron (: octahedra or octahedrons) is any polyhedron with eight faces. One special case is the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at each vertex. Many types of i ...
, the
dodecahedron
In geometry, a dodecahedron (; ) or duodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve flat faces. The most familiar dodecahedron is the regular dodecahedron with regular pentagons as faces, which is a Platonic solid. There are also three Kepler–Po ...
, and the
icosahedron
In geometry, an icosahedron ( or ) is a polyhedron with 20 faces. The name comes . The plural can be either "icosahedra" () or "icosahedrons".
There are infinitely many non- similar shapes of icosahedra, some of them being more symmetrical tha ...
.
The plane contains a total of five
Bravais lattices, or arrays of
points
A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to:
Mathematics
* Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...
defined by discrete
translation
Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...
operations.
Uniform tilings of the plane, are generated from combinations of only five regular polygons.
Higher dimensional geometry
A
hypertetrahedron, or 5-cell, is the 4 dimensional analogue of the
tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron (: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular Face (geometry), faces, six straight Edge (geometry), edges, and four vertex (geometry), vertices. The tet ...
. It has five vertices. Its orthographic projection is
homomorphic to the group ''K''
5.
There are five fundamental
mirror symmetry point group families in 4-dimensions. There are also 5
compact hyperbolic Coxeter groups, or
4-prisms, of rank 5, each generating uniform honeycombs in hyperbolic 4-space as permutations of rings of the Coxeter diagrams.
Algebra

5 is the value of the central
cell of the first non-trivial
normal magic square, called the
''Luoshu'' square. All
integer
An integer is the number zero (0), a positive natural number (1, 2, 3, ...), or the negation of a positive natural number (−1, −2, −3, ...). The negations or additive inverses of the positive natural numbers are referred to as negative in ...
s
can be expressed as the sum of five non-zero
squares
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
. There are five countably infinite
Ramsey classes of
permutation
In mathematics, a permutation of a set can mean one of two different things:
* an arrangement of its members in a sequence or linear order, or
* the act or process of changing the linear order of an ordered set.
An example of the first mean ...
s.
5 is
conjecture
In mathematics, a conjecture is a conclusion or a proposition that is proffered on a tentative basis without proof. Some conjectures, such as the Riemann hypothesis or Fermat's conjecture (now a theorem, proven in 1995 by Andrew Wiles), ha ...
d to be the only
odd,
untouchable number; if this is the case, then five will be the only odd prime number that is not the base of an
aliquot
Aliquot () may refer to:
Mathematics
* Aliquot part, a proper divisor of an integer
* Aliquot sum, the sum of the aliquot parts of an integer
* Aliquot sequence, a sequence of integers in which each number is the aliquot sum of the previous number ...
tree.

Every odd number greater than five is conjectured to be expressible as the sum of three prime numbers;
Helfgott has provided a proof of this (also known as the
odd Goldbach conjecture) that is already widely acknowledged by mathematicians as it still undergoes
peer-review
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
. On the other hand, every odd number greater than one is the sum of at most five prime numbers (as a lower limit).
Group theory
In
graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
, all
graphs with four or fewer vertices are
planar, however, there is a graph with five vertices that is not: ''K''
5, the
complete graph
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a complete graph is a simple undirected graph in which every pair of distinct vertices is connected by a unique edge. A complete digraph is a directed graph in which every pair of distinct vertices i ...
with five vertices. By
Kuratowski's theorem
In graph theory, Kuratowski's theorem is a mathematical forbidden graph characterization of planar graphs, named after Kazimierz Kuratowski. It states that a finite graph is planar if and only if it does not contain a Glossary of graph theory#Su ...
, a finite graph is planar
if and only if
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either bo ...
it does not contain a subgraph that is a subdivision of ''K''
5, or ''K''
3,3, the
utility graph.
There are five complex
exceptional Lie algebras. The five
Mathieu groups
In group theory, a topic in abstract algebra, the Mathieu groups are the five sporadic simple groups ''M''11, ''M''12, ''M''22, ''M''23 and ''M''24 introduced by . They are multiply transitive permutation groups on 11, 12, 22, 23 or 24 objec ...
constitute the
first generation in the
happy family of
sporadic groups
In the mathematical classification of finite simple groups, there are a number of Group (mathematics), groups which do not fit into any infinite family. These are called the sporadic simple groups, or the sporadic finite groups, or just the spora ...
. These are also the first five sporadic groups
to have been described.
A
centralizer
In mathematics, especially group theory, the centralizer (also called commutant) of a subset ''S'' in a group ''G'' is the set \operatorname_G(S) of elements of ''G'' that commute with every element of ''S'', or equivalently, the set of ele ...
of an element of order 5 inside the
largest sporadic group arises from the product between
Harada–Norton sporadic group
and a group of order 5.
List of basic calculations
Evolution of the Arabic digit

The evolution of the modern Western digit for the numeral for five is traced back to the
Indian system of numerals, where on some earlier versions, the numeral bore resemblance to variations of the number four, rather than "5" (as it is represented today). The
Kushana and
Gupta empires in what is now
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
had among themselves several forms that bear no resemblance to the modern digit. Later on, Arabic traditions transformed the digit in several ways, producing forms that were still similar to the numeral for four, with similarities to the numeral for three; yet, still unlike the modern five. It was from those digits that Europeans finally came up with the modern 5 (represented in writings by Dürer, for example).

While the shape of the character for the digit 5 has an
ascender in most modern
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...
s, in typefaces with
text figures
Text figures (also known as non-lining, lowercase, old style, ranging, hanging, medieval, billing, or antique figures or numerals) are numerals designed with varying heights in a fashion that resembles a typical line of running text, hence the ...
the glyph usually has a
descender, as, for example, in

.
On the
seven-segment display
A seven-segment display is a display device for Arabic numerals, less complex than a device that can show more characters such as dot matrix displays. Seven-segment displays are widely used in digital clocks, electronic meters, basic calculators, ...
of a calculator and digital clock, it is often represented by five segments at four successive turns from top to bottom, rotating counterclockwise first, then clockwise, and vice versa. It is one of three numbers, along with 4 and 6, where the number of segments matches the number. This makes it often indistinguishable from the letter S. Higher segment displays may sometimes may make use of a diagonal for one of the two.
Other fields
Religion
Judaïsm
Five is according to
Maharal of Prague the number defined as the center point which unifies four extremes.
Islam
The
Five Pillars of Islam. The
five-pointed simple
Simple or SIMPLE may refer to:
*Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple
Arts and entertainment
* ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track
* "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018
* "Simple", a song by John ...
star ☆ is one of the five used in Islamic
Girih tiles.
See also
*
5 (disambiguation)
References
Further reading
*
External links
Prime curiosities: 5*
{{DEFAULTSORT:5 (Number)
Integers
5 (number)