There are many ways to celebrate August 8, including Infinity Day, International Cat Day, and Nane Nane Day (8-8) in Tanzania, date of the Nane Nane Agricultural Festival and a day to celebrate farmers.

The number 8 seems particularly auspicious in many world religions, including Christianity. But today I would like to think about the mathematical and scientific properties of eight.

8 is the atomic number of oxygen. The square of any odd number, less one, is always a multiple of 8. It’s the first cubic number 2^3. It’s the base of the octal system, most commonly used with computers. It’s a Fibonacci number, being 3 plus 5. The next Fibonacci number is 13. 8 is the only positive Fibonacci number, aside from 1, that is a perfect cube.

I could go on infinitely. But just like all days are special, all numbers are special. The number 3 has a lot of religious significance as well as interesting mathematical properties.

Getting too hung up on numbers and omens, I believe, leads one away from the fact that we ultimately have an infinity of choices before us every day and based on the choices we make, we create our world.