4 April: 4

It's the fourth day of the fourth month, so here are 10 things you might not know about the number 4:

1. Four is the only number in the English language which has the same number of letters as its value.
2. The symbol 4 evolved from Brahmic numerals, which used a cross to represent four.
3. In China, four is considered an unlucky number because the word for it in Chinese is similar to the Chinese word for death. In China many buildings don't have a fourth floor and either skip if completely or call it "Floor F" and many brands skip over the number in their product series. Tetraphobia, or the irrational fear of the number four is more common in China than in the West.
4. In English it sounds like the word "for" and so in text speak has come to be a shorthand for that word, for example, "4u" meaning "for you".
5. In computing, four bits (half a byte) are sometimes called a nibble.
6. It's the atomic number of Beryllium (Be), a relatively rare element in the universe because in the cores of stars, it's usually fused into heavier elements, and on Earth only exists naturally in minerals, in combination with other elements. Gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl.
7. Four is the number of strings on a Violin, a viola, a cello, double bass, a cuatro and a Ukulele.
8. In numerology, four represents foundations, structure and stability. People with a strong representation of the digit in their numerology profile tend to be practical, patient, reliable, punctual and trustworthy.
9. "The four corners of the world" is a common phrase which derives from ancient cosmological and mythological systems. There's usually something important in the middle of their world view – a sacred mountain, garden, world tree, with four rivers running from it, one to each of the four corners, which roughly correspond to the four compass points.
10. The Gang of Four was the popular name for four Chinese Communist Party leaders, including Mao's widow, Jiang Qing. Since then, any political faction with four prominent people tends to be dubbed "Gang of four". There are a number of gangs, or groups, of four, some of which I have listed below:

• The four Gospels/Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
• The four books in Islam: Torah, Zaboor, Injeel, Quran.
• Four seasons: Spring, summer, Autumn, Winter.
• Four cardinal directions: north, south, east, west.
• Four Humours: Blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm.
• Four Greek classical elements: Fire, air, Water, earth.
• Four basic operations of arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.
• Four suits of Playing cards: hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades.
• Four nations of the United Kingdom (At time of writing, anyway): England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland.
• Four provinces of Ireland: Munster, Ulster, Leinster, Connacht.
• Four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael.
• The Beatles aka the "Fab Four": John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney.
• The Fantastic Four: Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, The Thing.
• Four Houses of Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin.
• Four known continents of the world in the A Song of Ice and Fire series: Westeros, Essos, Sothoryos, Ulthos.
• Four cardinal virtues: justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude.
• Four nucleobase types in DNA and RNA – adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine.
• Four basic states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.
• Four fundamental forces: electromagnetism, gravitation, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force.

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