47

[Tiberius Jim]

Anyone else notice the times the infamous number 47 finds its way into the new movie? I saw a sign as Kirk rides into Iowa Shipyards to board the shuttle that reads Sector 47. The number of ships in the Klingon armada that Nero destroyed: 47.

Did anyone catch any more 47's? And what exactly is the origin of the number being seen throughout Trek?

 

[MvRojo]

It's from Joe Menosky

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/47

 

[M'Sharak]

It's from a math professor at Pomona College, who as a joke wrote a (very convincing, I understand) proof showing that all numbers are equal to 47. Menosky was a student at Pomona, though not until several years after the writing of the proof, I seem to recall.

From the Pomona College website:

http://www.pomona.edu/Magazine/pcmfl00/1.shtml

YMMV

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Fascinating.

Did anyone catch any other instances of the number?

 

[Captain Fine]

I like this quote from the Memory Alpha 47 page "When asked about the significance of the number, Rick Berman once joked, "47 is 42, corrected for inflation" referring to 42 being "the answer to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams."

Shows that Rick Berman at least has a sense of humour, and knows Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so those are two pluses for him. See, Berman wasn't so bad after all!