We collect some curious facts about the number twelve:
1. Twelve has been linked for millennia to thetime measurement. Both calendars and clocks are organized based on this figure: the year consists of 12 months and the day of 24 hours. Each hour is divided into 5 × 12 minutes, and each minute into 5 × 12 seconds.
2. Theduodenum(derived from the Latin term “duodecim”, which means “twelve”) is part of the small intestine and in an adult it measures approximately 12 inches in length (30.5 cm).
3. The usual graduation of thecircumferenceit is 360º, that is, 12 × 30º.
4. It is also ubiquitous in certain units of measure. Apie(naturally occurring unit of length)it’s 12 inches.
5. The human body has12 cranial nerves, a group of nerves with sensory, motor or mixed functions that emerge through the holes in the skull and are related, above all, to the head and neck.
6. Twelve issmallest number with six dividers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12. Thus, the number twelve and its multiples are the only ones that have at the same time exactly half, third, fourth, two thirds and three quarters.
7. In mythology and religion, the importance of this figure is remarkable. For the Greeks,the Olympian gods of the Pantheon were twelve, as well as a dozen works commissioned to the mythical Roman hero Hercules as penance. According to the Bible, Jacob had twelve sons, and in this same book it is mentioned that there were twelve tribes of Israel and twelve apostles.
8. The number ofFunction keysfor most computer keyboards it is 12 (F1 to F12).
9. The American writer F. Emerson Andrews founded on April 5, 1944The Duodecimal Societywith the objective of investigating and educating “in mathematical science, with special dedication to the use of Base Twelve of numeration, in mathematics, weights and measures”. In its periodical publication, baptized asThe Duodecimal Bulletin, spread the virtues of this numbering system.
10. A total of12 astronauts have walked on the moon so far. The first set foot on the satellite in 1969 and the last astronauts set foot on the lunar surface in 1972. All of them were part of one of NASA’s six Apollo missions.
