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Thenumbers

4 8 15 16 23 42

During the second season of LOST it was revealed that the numbers are the code that must be entered into the computer located inside The Hatch every 108 minutes (By the way 4 + 8 + 15 + 16 + 23 + 42 = 108). Entering the numbers resets the countdown timer to 108 minutes. It is not explained to viewers what is to occur if the numbers are not typed in, except it is believed to be bad.

CounterZeroHieroglyphic

Bunker Hieroglyphics

If an individual does not push the button in time, the numbers flip to a series of glyphs . While the numeric sequence is flipping into these icons, an individual can still finish typing in the numbers, press execute, and return the counter to 108 minutes.

Note that the mysterious project the hatch was built for is called "The Dharma Initiative". The word "Dharma" means "moral duty", and the number 108 is very important in Buddhist and Hindu mythology. To many Buddhists, there are 108 sins (or "defilements" of mankind. It is for this reason that New Year's celebrations, such as those in Japan, feature ringing a bell 108 times as well as one possible reason most Buddhist prayer beads (mala) have 108 individual beads. Gods in Hindu are said to each have 108 names.

Facts

  • The numbers are 4 8 15 16 23 42.
  • The numbers total 108 when added together.
  • The numbers are used to reset the Countdown Timer inside The Hatch.
  • The crew in The Swan were supposed to be replaced every 540 days (108 x 5), Which means that each crew will enter the numbers at least 7200 times.
  • The numbers can be generated via a process starting from the Shaw-Basho polynomial and constitute a finite sequence.

Appearances

Lotto ticket

Hurley's winning lotto ticket.

All numbers together

  • On the hatch
  • On the medicine that Desmond injects into his arm
  • On the vial that Claire was injected with in the Medical Station
  • Spoken by Leonard in the mental hospital
  • Hurley rides past 6 players of a girls soccer team in the airport, each uniform has one of the numbers.
  • When Hurley's car broke down they showed the speedometer (in km/h) go from 16 to 15 to 8 to 4. The dashboard also displayed a temperature of 23 degrees Celsius and 42 km on the odometer.
  • Winning lottery numbers used by Hurley
  • A transmission of the numbers led Danielle to the island
  • Jack's badge number was all the numbers. (Source?)
  • Danielle's notes contained the numbers written 7 times, along with a mathematical formula.
  • On the Blast Door in the Swan.
  • LAPD police car numbers in Two for the Road

Single Numbers

each number has its own article with more detailed information on where it appears in the show (and outside the show):

4 + 8 + 15 + 16 + 23 + 42 = 108

Combos

A common combination with a separate article is 815 (or 0815)

Flight 815 Seat Numbers

From the File:Manisfest

Miscellaneous

  • 48 plane crash surviors. (4 & 8)
  • (If Jack is including the pilot and Ethan when he says it, it would mean that there are 46=4+42 survivors in the fuselage; note that 4 of them are dead before the exodus episodes in season one: the marshall, Joanna, Scott and Boone; leads to 42 survivors)
  • Boone's shirt with the Chinese symbols stood for 84. (4 & 8)
  • DriveSHAFT is 234 on the juke box. (23 & 4)
  • In the Dharma Initiative movie the number 540 is mentioned. (108x5)
  • In Whatever the Case May Be, the safety deposit box that contained Kate's toy plane was box #815
  • The reel number of the intelligence tape Sayid saw was 23108-42
  • The flags on Locke's bedside table. One is the Spanish Cross of Burgundy (something like that) which was used in the year 1516
  • Anthony Cooper's safety deposit box in Lockdown was #1516.
  • The Blast Door map in the same episode features the expression "√16. √64. √225" beneath The Flame which evaluates to 4, 8, and 15.
  • The company Locke owns in flashback is called Welcome Home. W is the twenty-third letter of the alphabet. H is the eighth.
  • Shannon's father died in the hospital at 8:15.
  • Oceanic Flight 815 is listed as the 4th Oceanic flight of the day (according to http://oceanic-air.com/trackresults.htm) and actually departed at 14:55 (1+4+5+5 = 15) from gate 23.
  • In Deus Ex Machina, Locke directs his mother to aisles 8 and 15.
  • There were 23 survivors in the tail section. 15 died or were taken by The Others, which means 8 were left
  • Only Bernard, Libby, Ana Lucia and Eko made their way to the camp. That is 4 people.
  • The day Shannon was killed was the 48th on the island (4 & 8)
  • Michael, Jin and Sawyer are found on the 45th day, which means the raft left on the 44th (4 & 4+4=8)
  • Ana Lucia was hit 4 times by the guy she killed after 4 months of suspension
  • In "Dave" Hurley's psychiatrist says that were 23 people on the collapsed deck, that was made for 8 (15 over the maximum, add Hurley, and it's 16).
  • In "Homecoming", Charlie attempts to sell a copier named the Heatherton C815.
  • Jack, Locke and Sawyer meet the Others on the 50th day (42+8)

Countertheory

  • If you start adding and subtracting the numbers you can make up almost any theory that you want. That said, some examples:
  • Boone's accident is in episode 19 (42-23)
  • Boone dies in the 20th episode (16+4), Claires's Baby is born in the same episode

Interesting tidbit on the numbers as written on Danielle's papers.

Numbers

Numbers written by Danielle

4 8 15 16 23 42

4 8 15 16 23 42

4 8 15 16 23 42

4 8 15 16 23 42

4 8 15 16 23 42

4 8 15 16 23 42

4 8 15 16 23 42

8 is 8th number counting in standard reading format; that is, starting at the top, reading a line left-to-right, then moving to the next line beneath. 15 is 15th, 16 is 16th, 23 is 23rd and 42 is 42nd. If only the 4 was a 1 or 7 this would work with all the numbers.

Occurrences outside of the show

As there is no reference to the sequence in The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, it is highly unlikely that the numbers have any real-world mathematical or scientific significance.

At least some of the numbers are well known as special numbers even before this show. It is likely that at least some of them were used in the show for that reason:

  • Oceanic flight 816 from Sydney to LA is a flight that appeared in the 2003 Thriller "Code 11-14". It had a terrorist on board and almost crashed
  • 08/15 is a german saying for "ordinary" or "boring", also used as a placeholder on demonstration objects
  • 08/15 was the model number of the German standard rifle during WW I
  • 4, 8, 16 are binary numbers with only one "1" (and are thus powers of two).
  • 23 is in several conspiracy theories the number of the "Illuminati" (see also Mindfuck). It is claimed to appear all over history.
  • 4 is a very unlucky number in Korea. Its pronunciation is similar to the pronunciation of the Chinese character for Death. Typically, elevators are marked "F" instead of "4".
  • 8/15 is Independence Day in Korea. South Korea even has a national soft drink called "815 Soda," or "Pal Ship Oh Cola" as it is better known locally.
  • 42 is of course the famous "answer to life, the universe and everything" from the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Even google tells you that, if you enter "answer to life, the universe and everything" as a search term.

A reference to some of the numbers is made in other shows or movies, some of them predating "Lost":

  • Fox Mulder from "X-Files" (1993-1998) has one of them as an apartment number and 23 and 42 appear throughout the show.
  • "Alias" also makes use of the numbers on some occasions, which is notable because Alias and Lost are both made by Abrams.
  • The numbers also make an appearance in "Veronica Mars", at the end of the episode "Donut Run" (2x11 - January 2006), on a fortune cookie that Duncan gives to Veronica. "Veronica Mars" airs on UPN in the same time slot as Lost.
  • There is a german movie called "23" (1998) (more info on IMDB)
  • All the numbers are retired Yankee jersey numbers. (Note: While Jersey 42 was not retired specifically by the Yankees, 42 was retired across the league on April 15, 1997 to honor Jackie Robinson.)
  • In the movie "Saw II", the numbers 8 and 16 were part of the Mindfuck Game: They were part of the combination to a safe that supposedly held an antidote for the poisoned "players".
  • On the cover of an issue of the comic "Catwoman", there is a drawing of Catwoman's mug shot. Her ID number is 4815162342.
  • In the "Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk" comic book, written by Damon Lindelof, the number of people Hulk killed in a previous rampage is retconned to be 815, instead of 'around 800'.

Natural occurrences:

  • Not found in the first 200,000,000 digits of pi. Interestingly, 4815162343 can be found at the 176,025,488th position of pi.

Ideas/Theories

  • They may be coordinates
    • The numbers specify a location somewhere between Australia and Los Angeles if interpreted as Geographic coordinates.
    • Latitude: 4° 8 Min. 15 Sec./Longitude: 16° 23 Min. 42 Sec. is about 150 miles West of Bangui in The Central African Republic... about 400 miles SE from the border to Nigeria
    • 4.815 N 162.342 W, shown on a map along with the air route mapping along the great circle route for SYD-LAX (which is the original flight-plan for Oceanic 815 map
    • 4.8151 S Lat., 174(Which is 180-6).2342 W Long. These coordinates lie in the Pacific Ocean, in a direct line between Sydney and Los Angeles
  • They seem to be cursed
  • The numbers may be "The Monster".
  • According to one of the Exec. Producers, they may have no meaning whatsoever.
  • Of course, we're not 100% sure the numbers are decimal, except for one key factor, that their sum in decimal is 108. If it weren't I'd say they had another base.
  • Each of the Numbers represents one of the 6 stations. The number 4 represents the Swan because the alarm sounds when the Countdown Timer reaches 4 minutes. Also 108 is equally divideble by 4 as 108/4 = 27, though 27 is not equally divisable by 4.
  • They may be numbers of doors ( of a labyrinth? ).
  • The hatch is producing some sort of evil weapon: 4= Beryllium (Be) -- Powdered beryllium is extremely toxic! 8= Oxygen (O) -- If carbon is the foundation of life, oxygen is the fuel 15= Phosphorus (P) -- Phosphorus is all about fire 16= Sulfur (S) -- Sulfur is the element of war and is one of three ingredients in gunpowder 23= Vanadium (V) -- Vanadium as an impurity gives the green color to many pretty gemstones (Green flash) 42= Molybdenum (Mo) -- The melting point of molybdenum is a good 1000C higher than steel and used as laser (!) applications.
  • They are a 'signature' and are in every episode of lost.
  • According to the Pearl Orientation Video, they are arbitrary and only part of the experiment.

See Also

The Numbers (Fan theories)

External Links

The LOST Numbers preference guide List of appears of the numbers in the show

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