BY THE NUMBERS

"Most people's lives are governed by telephone numbers."

The Book

'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'

The sequence of numbers used by Hurley to win the lottery on 'Lost' has generated a lot of excitement among the rabid fan base.

4 8 15 16 23 42

Here's a rundown of the connections found by fans:

Somebody spent four hours during the night to go through every episode's script for these:

4
- # of years Locke was in his wheelchair
- # of guns in Marshall's case
- # of aces on Boone's t-shirt
- # of years since Hurley's grandfather got his pacemaker
- # of years since Sam Toome killed himself
- # of years since Sawyer made his “birthday wish”
- # of people that will fit on Micheals raft
- # of months michealangelo stared at marble “working” in Locke’s story/Boone then asks if they’re going to stare at the hatch for 4 months
- # of miles due west back to camp from where Locke ties up Boone
- # of people Micheal needed to help did Jack out of the cave-in
- # of refills of Shannons inhaler Boone brought with him
- # of people to die since the plane crash(the sky marshall, Scott, the lady that drowned, Ethan)
- # of days that pass before Jack decides to burn the fuselage/bodies for a signal
- # of kids the nurse taking care of Micheal has
- # of traps Locke sets up around camp to get Ethan
- # of times Hurley says Charlie shot Ethan(He actually was shot 6 times)
- # of months the Psychic tried to convince Claire to raise her baby alone before giving her money and telling her of the couple in LA
- Shannon asks Boone what he and Locke have been doing in the jungle for the past 4 days
- Sayid said the French signal could be a SAT 4
- Leonard playing the game Connect Four
- Walt says he needs a 4-3 in the backgammon game

8
- # of months Claire was pregnant when they crashed
- # of Km the hitman tells Jin to drive
- # of people that die in Hurley's shoe factory fire
- # of whiskey shots between Sawyer and Christian Shepherd
- # of hours Kate would spend in the woods with her father tracking deer
- # of years since Micheal got hit by car
- # of years Micheals been writing Walt
- # of months Locke and Helen have been talking
- # of days since Charlie went with out his guitar
- # of weeks DriveShaft was going to tour
- # of days after the crash Jack/other survivors moved to the caves
- # of years Micheal worked in construction
- Sawyers age when his Dad killed himself and his wife(sawyer may have been 9)
- Shannon's age when her Dad married Boones Mom
- news station at Hurley’s Lotto interview
- Walt born in August

15
- # of members on Danielle's research team
- # on whiskey bottle that Sawyer and Christian drink from
- # of hours Boone flew to rescue his sister
- # of kilometers to nearest town from aussie farm

16
- # of years Danielle’s distress has been looping
- # of weeks since someone won the lottery before Hurley
- # of years since Sam and Lenny heard the numbers
- Jack, Kate, and Charlie found the pilot 16 hours after the crash
- Age of patient of Jacks first solo procedure
- Jack told the lady at the airport desk he had to land in LAX in 16 hours to bury his father/flight was 16 hours

23 - Jack's seat number was 23A
- The reward for turning Kate in is $23,000

42 - # of spaces on a game of Connect Four board

* 815 *
- Flight #815
- Safety deposit box that Kate wanted
- Copier Charlie sold was model #C-815

* Major Multiples *
- Plane hit turbulence at 40,000 ft
- Charlie jokes about Locke bringing 400 knives
- The guy with the beans was running that scam for 40 years
- “Adam and Eve” have been in the caves for 40 years
- Sawyer got $160,000 from the girls husband as part of the scam
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Four is the first composite number, the second square and the first square of a prime.The Pythagoreans had a particular interest in 4, as well as 8, both of which they assoicated with harmony and justice.

"In the Old Testament there were 4 rivers of paradise, one for each direction, supposed to prefigure the 4 gospels of the New Testament."

(Note: I think, but am not sure, that there were 4 rivers in Hades as well.)"Every integer is the sum of at most 4 squares"

Four Color Theorem4 is the only composite n which does not divide (n-1)
8 is the second cube
8 is the 6th Fibonacci number and the only cubic Fibonacci number
Eight is apparently not very interesting. Do remember the thing with Pythagoreans.

15 is the first product of two odd primes
15 is the 5th triangular number (and every pentagonal number is the sum of three triangular numbers; there's some other stuff as well)

16 is the 4th square and second 4th power
"The first square to be the sum of 2 triangular numbers in two ways
16 is the only number to be the area and perimneter of a square

"23 is one of only two integers that actually needs 9 cubes to represent it. The other is 239. 23=2x23+7x13"
"23 is the largest integer that is not the sum of distinct powers."

"42 is the 5th Catalan Number
And, not from the book, 42 is the answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything.
The only pattern I was seeing in this was the recurrence of the numbers being "the second" or "one of two", but that broke up with 42.
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Reduction leads to one theory:
As a reminder, the numbers are: 4 8 15 16 23 42

If you add them all together you get 108. If you then reduce the numbers by digit to 1+0+8, you get 9. If you reduce the numbers by digit to 4+8+1+5+1+6+2+3+4+2, you get 72, which reduced again is 9.

Crazy Rousseau is first introduced in episode 9; the numbers are revealed in episode 18, which reduces to 9. In episode 9, we find out that on the back of Sayid's picture of Nadia is the saying "You'll find me in the next life, if not in this one". He gets this picture back in episode 18. Both episodes 9 and 18 talk about the "black rock", which has nine letters. "John Locke" also has nine letters. We first meet Ethan in episode nine.

What does this mean? I'm not sure. I hoping someone grabs onto to this and thinks of something new.

Alternately, the numbers in that order may have significance. As has been pointed out previously, the castaways were on flight 8-15 and Rousseau has been on the island for 16 years. What about "4 x x x 23 42" (x's denote used numbers).

Since I have no practical answers (see above), how about turning to genetics? Rousseau has referred to Alex as her child, so let's start there. "23" could represent Danielle's genetic contribution to Alex (normal). When you add 4 and 42 together you get 46, which the number of chromosomes a normal person has. The "4" could represent genetic material that is neither Rousseau's or Robert's (her husband), but somehow else. Meaning, Alex (whatever the heel he/she/it is) has only 42 normal chromosomes.
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Wow, your theories are very interesting. Unfortunately, the only thing I can do is give you some numerology, lol.

The producers have said (I think? I don't know, they've said a lot) to think of the island as a character as much as the "real" character. So perhaps, maybe, if I follow your reduction theory...the island's number is NINE:

The number Nine represents the Beginning and the End of all human experience.

It is the Force of the outgoing number One,
the Light and the Peace of the number Two,
the Imagination of the number Three,
the Form and Order of the number Four,
the Life and Progress of the number Five,the Responsibility of the number Six,
the Intelligence and Perfection of the number Seven,
the Judgment of the number Eight,
the Compassion and Benevolence of the number Nine.
The number Nine represents mankind's last earthly lesson:
"Forgiveness."
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You might be able to see why a Caretaker of Toobworld such as myself feels at home among these people.......

But for Toobworld purposes, it's the special Mega Jackpot number of 42 that interests us the most.
"42", according to the super computer Deep Thought in 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy', is the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything.

That may be the answer, but the trick is to know what the Ultimate Question is.

And if the 18 episodes of 'Lost' shown so far are any indication, this mysterious island is a breeding ground for questions.

Could this be a kind of a connection between 'Lost' and 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'? In a specific sense, no. But in a general sense, they are connected. In fact, every show is connected to 'HHG2TG' (the TV version).

In 1980, the world was destroyed by a Vogon constructor fleet to make way for a hyperspace bypass. But because Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect went back in Time and messed around with the Earth's history, a new timeline was created and those events of 1980 never took place. That's why Toobworld still exists today.

I won't speculate myself as to what all the mysteries on the show mean. Based on what I've read, I'm assured that the creators know the answer to everything they've set up already, unlike the people who begat 'The X-Files' and 'Twin Peaks'.

I just wanted to point out that the number 42, the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything was in the special Mega-Jackpot box. And that sequence of numbers was later shown to be on the hatch being uncovered by Locke and Boone.

The hatch could be considered as sort of a lid to a box, right?

So the answer to the Universe is in the box......

Stay tuned!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby