On 40

This post is about the number forty, quaranta, veertig, cорок, keturiasdešimt, Minn erbgħin, XL, and many more … can you add any?

40 – As forty, the only English number with the letters of its correct spelling are in alphabetical order

In Mathematics
40 – a composite number, an octagonal number, a semiperfect number, a Harshad number, a Stormer number

40 – divisible by 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, and 40

In Science
40 – the atomic number of zirconium, whose neutrally charged atom has 40 protons and 40 electrons

40 – the number of weeks for an average term of pregnancy

M40 – a star in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 40 – a planetary nebula in the constellation Cepheus

In Religion

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Judaism

• 40 – a commonly used time period (days, nights, years) – (many references)
• 40 – the number of days and nights during the Flood
• 40 – the number of se’ah in a mikvah of water (approximately 200 gallons/757 liters)
• 40 – the number of lashes as a punishment

Christianity

• 40 – the number of days and nights Jesus fasted
• 40 – the number of days between the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus
• 40 – the number of days of Lent preceding Easter (but Eastern and Western Christianity count it differently)

Islam

• 40 – Muhammad’s age when he first received the revelation delivered by the archangel Gabriel
• 40 days – the official length of mourning

Hinduism

• 40 – the number of stanzas (shlokas or dohas) in some popular HIndu prayers
• 40 – number of days fasting

In Sports

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40 – number of players allowed under contract for each MLB baseball team

40/40 Club – Players achieving 40 stolen bases and 40 home runs in a season (only been done 4 times)

40 – the maximum number of horses in the grand national

40 yards – (36.5 meters): the distance dash as a metric in scouting American football players
The distance run in the 40 yard dash, an important metric in American football scouting.

40 – the third point in a tennis game … and 40-40 is called “deuce”

40 – the number of cars in a NASCAR Nationwide race

40 – the number of a NASCAR car that has won 9 races by drivers Sterling Marlin (4), Pete Hamilton (3), Tommy Thompson (1), and Jamie McMurray (1)

40 – a jersey number retired in this professional sports:
MLB: Don Wilson (Astros), Danny Murtaugh (Pirates)
NBA: Byron Beck (Nuggets), Bill Laimbeer (Pistons)
NFL: Pat Tillman (Cardinals), Gale Sayers (Bears), Mike Haynes (Patriots), Joe Morrison (Giants), Tom Brookshier (Eagles)

In Entertainment
40 – the number of spaces in a standard Monopoly game board

40 -the highest number ever counted to on Sesame Street

In Music
Crush 40 – an American-Japanese hard rock band

“40” – a song by Dave Matthews Band, UC, and Franz Ferdinand

“Forty Shades of Green” – a song by Johnny Cash

40 – the name of Canadian hip hop producer Noah Shebib

Symphony No. 40 – by Haydn and Mozart

40 – the number of song on popular weekly radio programs as American Top 40, Rick Dees’ Weekly Top 40, and American Country Countdown – #1 40 years ago today

In Television
$40 – the spending limit for chefs on “Chef on a Shoestring”

$40 – the per day spending limit on $40 a Day, a travel/eating show originally on Food Network hosted by Rachael aye

In Literature
40 – the number of thieves involved with Ali Baba in Arabian Nights

In Culture
To understand a people, you must live among them for 40 days. ~Arabic proverb

40 hours – the customary number of hours in a regular workweek in some countries

40 days – Russian folklore regarding the length of time ghosts of the dead linger at the site of their death

40 years – an age milestone

40th wedding anniversary – Ruby is the traditional gift

In US History
40 acres and a mule – a plan to offer freed slaves after the US Civil War

40th US President – Ronald Reagan

STS-40 – the 11th mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia (June 1991)

Federalist Paper No. 40 – written by James Madison about the authority of the Constitutional Convention

In World History
40 – During the Bubonic plague, the number of days ships isolated in the harbor before passengers could go ashore

40 – another name for The Tessarakonteres, the largest ship of antiquity, constructed by Ptolemy IV of Egypt

40 CE

• Korean calendar year 2373, Holocene calendar year 10040, Discordian calendar year 1206
• A leap year starting on Friday
• Roman Emperor Caligula starts on a campaign to conquer Britain (which failed)
• The Vietnamese Trưng Sisters rebel against the rule of the Chinese Emperor Guangwu of Han
• Philo teaches that all men are born free.
• Christianity comes to Egypt

40 BC

• Assyrian calendar year 4711, Berber calendar year 911, Buddhist calendar year 505
• Either a common year starting on Thursday, Friday or Saturday or a leap year starting on Thursday or Friday
• Lucius Antonius surrenders to Octavian
• Treaty of Brundisium: The treaty is cemented by the marriage of Mark Antony and Octavia, sister of Octavian
• Athenodorus a philosopher, encounters a ghost in Athens
• Parthians conquer Jerusalem
• Births: the twins of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Mark Antony

In Geography

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I-40 – a U.S. interstate connecting California to North Carolina

40 – National highways in Argentina, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, UK, and USA

40th Parallel South – crosses land in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina

40th Parallel North – crosses land in Spain, Italy, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, North Korea, Japan, USA, and Portugal

40th Meridian West – crosses Greenland, Brazil, and Antarctica

4oth Meridian East – crosses Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Antarctica

40-Step Stairway – historical place in Busan, South Korea

Forty Foot – a promontory on the southern tip of Dublin Bay, Ireland where people have been swimming in the Irish Sea all year round for hundreds of years

Forty Shades of Green is a visual term for rural Ireland

Miscellaneous
40 – the code for direct dial international phone calls to Romania

WD-40 – a popular penetrating oil whose name stands for the 40th formula of Water Displacement

Here’s #2 on the Billboard Charts from 40 years ago today – April 2, 1977 – our wedding day