The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

17 September 2006

In search of prime locations

One of the factors that drove Sean Gleeson to create the "One Gleeson Plaza" address extension (which I mentioned here) was, well, factors, and I mean that literally:

Just a numbered house on a numbered street. Nothing noteworthy about the number 3421. (Being divisible by 11, it’s not even prime.)

Do any of you have a house number (or post-office box number) that is a prime? The house I reported on yesterday does; I don't, though there are two on my block.

And if you don't feel like doing the math, here's a list of the first thousand primes, from 2 to 7919.

Posted at 5:30 AM to General Disinterest


I've only lived at three odd-numbered addresses that I can remember, and none are on that list.

And the closest I came to exceeding the scope of that list was 6435, which is obviously divisible by 3 (for a solution of 2145).

Posted by: McGehee at 8:45 AM on 17 September 2006

Yes, 18661, but I don't appreciate the novelty. Does Zillow consider that in their valuations or something?

Posted by: MikeH at 12:30 PM on 17 September 2006

God only knows what Zillow considers in their valuations these days.

My personal preferences run to really small numbers (like 3) and really large numbers (22071); of course, I've never had either. And well, prime numbers are just that more entertaining.

(3 is a prime; 22071 isn't.)

Posted by: CGHill at 12:37 PM on 17 September 2006

I like an address number to be noteworthy for some distinguishing feature, and being prime is actually far down the list. So when I noted that 3421 was "not even prime," it was as if to prove that it is not noteworthy in any way whatsoever,** not to assert that primeness is the most desirable of qualities. Indeed the number I chose for my pseudo-address, 1, is not prime. I think the best number I ever really lived at was 1812 Carey Place, where I resided in 1998.

** (There's probably a really cool name for this rhetorical device, but I can't think of it.)

Posted by: Sean Gleeson at 5:30 PM on 17 September 2006

For reasons I'd just as soon not get into, I once asked the phone company for a number of the form xxx-1984.

Got it, too.

Posted by: CGHill at 6:27 PM on 17 September 2006

937 Garden, Hoboken.

Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 7:04 PM on 17 September 2006

Hey, I just remembered a prime: back in '96, I lived at 1117 N. Jefferson, in Wichita.

Posted by: Sean Gleeson at 9:47 PM on 17 September 2006