16 (number)

Distinguish from the Nelvana series, 6teen.

16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17.


Cardinal	16 sixteen
Ordinal	16th sixteenth
Numeral system	hexadecimal
Factorization	$2^4 \,\!$
Divisors	1, 2, 4, 8, 16
Roman numeral	XVI
Binary	10000
Hexadecimal	10
Hebrew	ט"ז (Tet Zayin)

In mathematics

Sixteen is a composite number, the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . It is the fourth power of two. For this reason, 16 was used in weighing light objects in several cultures. The British used to have 16 ounces in one pound, the Chinese used to have 16 liangs in one jin. In old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5's and 5 lower beads to represent the 1's, the 7 beads can represent from a hexadecimal digit from 0 to 15 in each column.

Sixteen is the only integer that equals $m^n$ and $n^m$ , for some unequal integral m and n (m=4, n=2, or vice versa). It has this property because $2^2=2\times2$ . It is also equal to 2↑↑3, (using Knuth's up-arrow notation).

16 is a centered pentagonal number.

16 is the base of the hexadecimal number system, which is used extensively in computer science.

In science

The atomic number of sulfur.

Astronomy

Messier object M16, a magnitude 6.5 nebula/open cluster in the constellation Serpens, also known as the Eagle Nebula Cluster.

The New General Catalogue object NGC 16, a magnitude 12.0 galaxy in the constellation Pegasus

The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on -2456 July 23 and ended on -941 January 18. The duration of Saros series 16 was 1514.5 years, and it contained 85 solar eclipses.

The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on -2172 April 21 and ended on -874 June 8. The duration of Saros series 16 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 lunar eclipses.

In religion

The 16th day of any Hebrew month is not written with the letters that represent "10" and "6" (י-ו, yodh and vav), because these are two of the letters of the four-letter name of God. Instead, the date is written with the letters representing "9" and "7" (ט-ז, teth and zayin)
Many Hebrew-English calendars contain 16 months, covering the months from September (in which Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the Hebrew year, occurs) through December of the following solar year

Age 16

Sixteen is the minimum age for being allowed an official driver's license in many U.S. states and in Canada. In Australia it is the age one can begin to get a learner's licence
Sixteen is the minimum age for getting an adult job in most states and provinces (as well as, complementarily, for dropping out of school)
In America, female sixteen year olds earn the right to privacy laws surrounding OBGYN practices
Sixteen is the age of consent for many jurisdictions around the world
For its "coming of age" signification, this age has inspired the titles of many songs, such as "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Sixteen Candles", the last of which was borrowed as the title of a John Hughes movie.

In other fields

There are sixteen ounces in an avoirdupois pound
"The Sixteen" is an English choir performing early religious music
Sixteen is a Polish band that represented Poland in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest
There are sixteen different personality types in the Myers-Briggs classification system
A note played for one-sixteenth the duration of a whole note is called a semiquaver
In the 16-bit era, 16-bit microprocessor ran 16-bit applications
Sixteen Kingdoms, part of Chinese history
Canada's Yellowhead Highway is designated as Highway 16
Interstate 16 is the designation for a US interstate highway in Georgia
The fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon
16 is one of the "Lost Numbers" on the television show Lost, along with 4, 8, 15, 23, and 42
16 is the retired number of former baseball pitchers Whitey Ford and Hal Newhouser
16 is the jersey number of former football quarterback Joe Montana
16 is the name of a song by Green Day on their album 39/Smooth
The M16 rifle
The number 16 is the symbol of the Day of solidarity with political prisoners and victims of the Lukashenka regime in Belarus, which is commemorated on 16th of every months by demonstrations and flash mobs worldwide

Historical years

16 A.D., 16 B.C., 1916, 2016, etc.

Integers