What Connections Are There Between Number Theory And Partial Differential Equations?

Norse mythology number 9 ?

  • I have recently (re)read the poetic Edda of Norse mythology and another book which has prose retellings of the myths, in which the number 9 appears repeatedly (the nine worlds, Odin hangs on Yggdrasil for nine days and nights, etc). The author of one of my books says that this has never been satisfactorily explained, and a Google search turns up nothing, Does anyone have a theory on this ? I seem to have stumbled across a possible theory. Someone here on Y/A asked a question about the meaning of the days of the week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc) and those are based on Teutonic, Norse, and Roman gods, and/or the planets. So that was my answer to that, and the asker had this comment "solar system is nine. days are seven". The asker is from India. In ancient times, the Indians were clearly a wise culture, with 'surprising' knowledge about the universe, as were other ancient cultures. Moreover, there are some connections/similarities between the Norse mythology and Indian mythology. So is it possible that's where the number 9 came into the Norse cosmogeny? The awareness of the number of planets in our solar system (as believed at that time)? What do you think?

  • Answer:

    That is doubtful. The Norse were great at navigating by the stars, but there is next to no evidence that they excelled in astronomy beyond that, as in cultures where religious calenders and events were carefully calculated by the spinning of the earth and the revolution of the planet and how celestial objects seemed to "move" by this. Probably the Norse made a more mundane observation and placed special significance on the number 3. Triads hold a fascination for mythologies, and there are many theories as to why this commonly reoccurs, but I find it uncanny that many physio-chemical mathematical relations work in threes. The Norse share this reverence for the number 3, and I imagine the number 9 could have become significant as it is the divine number multiplied by itself. All we can do is speculate, though; in Irish mythology, the number 3 was also very significant, but so was seven and four. Besides, there are bits and pieces of the Norse mythology other than the Edda where some of the "9 elements" were actually a different number - the Edda cannot be wholely relied upon because it was written by one man who could have altered numbers and dynamics to the pagan myths for his own purposes or convenience.

Cuchulainn at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

That is doubtful. The Norse were great at navigating by the stars, but there is next to no evidence that they excelled in astronomy beyond that, as in cultures where religious calenders and events were carefully calculated by the spinning of the earth and the revolution of the planet and how celestial objects seemed to "move" by this. Probably the Norse made a more mundane observation and placed special significance on the number 3. Triads hold a fascination for mythologies, and there are many theories as to why this commonly reoccurs, but I find it uncanny that many physio-chemical mathematical relations work in threes. The Norse share this reverence for the number 3, and I imagine the number 9 could have become significant as it is the divine number multiplied by itself. All we can do is speculate, though; in Irish mythology, the number 3 was also very significant, but so was seven and four. Besides, there are bits and pieces of the Norse mythology other than the Edda where some of the "9 elements" were actually a different number - the Edda cannot be wholely relied upon because it was written by one man who could have altered numbers and dynamics to the pagan myths for his own purposes or convenience.

Cuchulai...

I believe that in the past we were visited by extraterrestrials and they handed down their knowledge to the ancients. My reasoning: The great pyramid of Giza is the exact center of all the landmass on earth. The pyramid of the moon in Tenochtitlan has the same perimeter as the great pyramid of Giza. Some Indian tribes (though its extremely hard to get the information from them) claim that extraterrestrials are the source of their knowledge. Sights such as stone-henge around the world, were significantly advanced for their time. And I could go on for a long time.... But back on topic, I believe that they certainly had knowledge of the stars and universe and that's how the numeral 9 became so significant in the Prose Edda and other Nordic tales.

I believe that in the past we were visited by extraterrestrials and they handed down their knowledge to the ancients. My reasoning: The great pyramid of Giza is the exact center of all the landmass on earth. The pyramid of the moon in Tenochtitlan has the same perimeter as the great pyramid of Giza. Some Indian tribes (though its extremely hard to get the information from them) claim that extraterrestrials are the source of their knowledge. Sights such as stone-henge around the world, were significantly advanced for their time. And I could go on for a long time.... But back on topic, I believe that they certainly had knowledge of the stars and universe and that's how the numeral 9 became so significant in the Prose Edda and other Nordic tales.

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.