Tomislav Portada

Vladimir Stilinović

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LETTER TO THE EDITORWhat Can Be Said about the Number 13 beyond the Fact thatIt Is a Prime Number? – An AddendumDear Sir,In a recent issue of Croatica Chemica Acta, a very inter-esting essay by L. Pogliani, M. Randi} and N. Trinajsti}dealing with the number thirteen1 was published. In theessay, among other things, an example of an unusualalphanumerical notation of one of the authors’ familynames is given. The authors describe how the familyname of Professor Trinajsti} was on several occasions,once even on the pages of this journal,2 written as 13-i},the number 13 standing for "trinajst", the root word ofhis family name. In the paper, however, there is no men-tion of other examples of such an alphanumerical nota-tion.It came to our attention that such a notation, althoughunusual, is hardly unprecedented. In the title of his paperon the black widow spider (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus(Rossi, 1790)), written in 1896,3 Narcis Damin (1845–1905), a Croatian arachnologist, named the title speciesLathrodectus 13-guttatus, where the numeral 13 standsfor tredecim (thirteen in Latin), the first root of the wordtredecimguttatus ("with thirteen spots"). This example ofthe number 13 standing in place of a word meaning"thirteen" clearly shows that the tradition of such a nota-tion exists in Croatia, at least in naming biological spe-cies.Furthermore, the mentioned black widow spider it-self carries an interesting incidence of the number 13. Thespider, habitant of the Mediterranean region, is black incolour, similar to most other widow species (genus La-throdectus), and is identified by thirteen red spots on itsdorsal abdomen. This is one among the very few exam-ples of the number 13 in zoology.Who knows, perhaps some of the infamy surround-ing the number 13, at least in these parts of the world,can be attributed to this venomous arachnoid.References1. L. Pogliani, M. Randi}, and N. Trinajsti}, Croat. Chem. Acta77 (2004) 447–456.2. S. J. Cyvin, J. Brunvoll, and B. N. Cyvin, Croat. Chem. Acta69 (1996) 177–190.3. N. Damin, Rad JAZU 126 (1896) 110–133.Vladimir Stilinovi}Tomislav PortadaVladimir Stilinovi}Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb,Horvatovac 102 a, HR-10000, Zagreb, Croatia(E-mail: vstilinovic@chem.pmf.hr)Tomislav PortadaRu|er Bo{kovi} Institute,P.O. Box 180, HR-10002, Zagreb, Croatia(E-mail: tportad@irb.hr)CROATICA CHEMICA ACTACCACAA 79 (1) A1 (2006)

What Can Be Said about the Number 13 beyond the Fact that It Is a Prime Number? – An Addendum

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