87 (number)

Template:Infobox number 87 (eighty-seven) is the natural number following 86 and preceding 88.

In mathematics

87 is:

• the sum of the squares of the first four primes (87 = 2² + 3² + 5² + 7²).
• the sum of the sums of the divisors of the first 10 positive integers.
• the thirtieth semiprime, and the twenty-sixth distinct semiprime and the eighth of the form (3.q).
• together with 85 and 86, forms the last semiprime in the 2nd cluster of three consecutive semiprimes; the first comprising 33, 34, 35.
• with an aliquot sum of 33; itself a semiprime, within an aliquot sequence of five composite numbers (87,33,15,9,4,3,1,0) to the Prime in the 3-aliquot tree.
• 5! - 4! - 3! - 2! - 1! = 87
• the last two decimal digits of Graham's number.

In sports

• Cricket in Australia holds 87 as a superstitiously unlucky score and is referred to as "the devil's number". This originates from the fact that 87 is 13 runs short of a century. 187, 287, and so on are also considered unlucky but are not as common as 87 on its own.

In other fields

Eighty-seven is also:

• The opus number of the 24 Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich.
• In model railroading, the ratio of the popular H0 scale is 1:87. Proto:87 scale claims to offer precise proportions of wheels and tracks of real railroads.
• 87 is by far the most commonly used octane rating of gasoline in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.