Sometimes, Lucky Numbers Add Up to Apartment Sales

By Vivian S. Toy

For some New Yorkers on the 1) h_nt for an apartment, the must-have item in the search is 2) no_hing as prosaic as a walk-in closet or a 3) se_ond bathroom. It is a number — a lucky number. It could be the number of the apartment or the 4) fl_or, or the closing date, or the 5) pre_ise amount of the final bid. And these 6) bu_ers are happy to pay a premium or forgo a 7) bet_er apartment just to get that number.

The 1) _____ of real estate seems to depend on cultural 2) _____ and belief systems. Jewish buyers may 3) _____ the number 18, because it is the numerical 4) ____ for chai, or life. But for Chinese buyers, the number eight may rule, because it is a 5) _____ for the word for prosperity. And Indians who follow Vedic 6) ______ have a personal lucky number based on birth 7) ____.

For some 1) (buyers, buyer) of Indian ancestry, Vedic astrology, which 2) (are, is) based on ancient texts and the lunar calendar, 3) (help, helps) dictate real estate decisions. Using a 4) (persons’, person’s) birth date, Vedic astrologers create charts to determine a lucky number and provide propitious dates for major events. The unit number is the focus of 5) (them, their) numerical goal: If an apartment 6) (have, has) both a number and a letter, then the letter must be added to the number, so 3D would become 3 plus 4 (D being the fourth letter of the alphabet), or 7. There are some numbers that are very beneficial on a house or apartment, so whether you believe it or not, why not stack the cards in your favor?

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From Cambridge Mass

16.10.10

Magic by Numbers

By Daniel Gilbert

I recently 1) wo_nd up in the emergency room. The doctor gave me a 2) pres_ription for a week’s worth of antibiotics, along with the usual stern 3) war_ing about the importance of completing the full course. What I didn’t understand was why a full 4) co_rse took precisely seven days. Why not six, 5) ei_ht or nine and a half? Did the number seven 6) cor_espond to some biological fact about the human digestive tract or the life 7) cy_le of bacteria?

My doctor had 1) ____ seven. Where in the world had seven come from? Italy! Seven is a magic 2) _____ because only it can make a week, and it was given this particular 3) _____ in 321 A.D. by the Roman emperor Constantine, who officially 4) _____ the week from eight days to seven. The problem isn’t that Constantine’s week was 5) _____ — units of time are often arbitrary, which is why the Soviets adopted the five-day week before they adopted the 6) ___ week, and the French adopted the 10-day week before they adopted the 60-day 7) _____.

Magic “time 1) (numberes, numbers)” cost a lot, but magic “10 numbers” 2) (had to, may) cost even more. In 1962, a physicist named M. F. M. Osborne noticed 3) (these, that) stock prices tended to cluster around numbers ending in zero and five. On the 4) (first, one) hand, most people have five fingers, and on the other hand, 5) (more, most) people have five more. It isn’t hard to understand 6) (where, why) an animal with 10 fingers would use a base-10 counting system. But according to economic theory, a stock’s price is supposed to be determined by the efficient workings of the free market and not by the phalanges of the people trading it.

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From www.psyhorg.com

07.03.10