BELIEF OR SUPERSTITION IN NUMBERS
In most western cultures, the number "7" is a lucky number whereas in China, seven is associated with death rituals.
The 4-leaf cover is a symbol of luck in at least the Irish culture. The number four sounds like "death" in Chinese and is often avoided like by eliminating the 4th/ 14th/ 24th/ 34th/ 44th floor in a building or street address.
The number six sounds like "official wealth" in Chinese and hence considered auspicious. However, the number "666" is dreaded by western cultures.
The number that is most adored by the Chinese is the number "8". "Eight" sounds like "prosperity" or "getting rich" in Chinese. Chinese likes to bid on anything -- car license plate, street or apartment number that contains the number eight. Eight is considered the luckiest number by the Chinese.
The number "nine" sounds like "forever" or "lasting" in Chinese. So it well received by the Chinese. However, zero is the beginning of the number journey and"nine" is the last digit and final destination. "Nine" is sometimes treated as a major "hurdle" for reaching another 10 years of life expectancy by Chinese astrology readers.
TESTING METHODOLOGY
Age distribution of Las Vegas victims is tabulated and percentages are calculated. Because the nature of the event (country music concert) in the incident tends to attract certain age groups, only the last digit of victim's age number is used for calculation. This may eliminate the age-groups bias. See the table below:
DATA ANALYSIS
With a total of 58 cases and 10 digits (0- 9), the average is 5.8. So theoretically, each number should show up five to six times. Therefore, if there are 5- 6 cases or around 10% for a number, this number is pretty "neutral" or neither auspicious nor inauspicious. Hence, the green rows with age digit number 1, 2 and 6 in table above are "neutral".
The rows in red color are below 7% mean fewer people died with these age digit numbers. This means number 3, 7 and 9 are more auspicious, especially number "7" with only one case. This indeed provides strong support on the western belief that number "7" is relatively lucky.
The rows with bold black entries have over 13% frequency. Number "4" has 12 cases or 20.7%-- the highest frequency in the data. Even the gunman has the number "4" in his current age of 64. This supports the Chinese belief that number "4" is inauspicious. A shocking number is age "34" which shows up 7 times-- the highest exact age number frequency in this data set. Age 34 probably is a year that people should be vigilant in planning for travels and events.
The biggest surprise is number "8" with a pretty high frequency of 8 cases or 13.8%. This disputes the Chinese belief that number 8 is very auspicious. Another shocking number is exact age number "28" which shows up 6 times-- the second highest frequency in this data set. Age 28 probably is also a year that people should be vigilant in planning for travels and events too.
Another surprise is the number "zero" with the second highest frequency of 9 cases or 15.5%. We expect that the number "9" should have higher frequency than the number "zero" because "9" is the end of the number journey. But "zero" has much higher frequency. Hence, people with age number ending with "0" should be vigilant in that year. This also disproves the Chinese belief that "10" is "completion" and "perfection", especially in certain Feng Shui schools.
CONCLUSION
Based on the data from Las Vegas mass shooting and perhaps any unexpected mass catastrophe, the most dangerous age numbers are when one's age number ends with the number "four", followed by "zero" and "eight". The most dangerous ages in this Las Vegas group are 28 and 34. People with any of these age characteristics should plan the activities with more security options accordingly.
RIP Deceased victims of Las Vegas
Ken Lai
kenlaifengshui.com
