Number three’s a sure thing

Ponders why the magic number i s thrice as nice

WHAT is it about the number three which causes it to appear so often?

Whether it is in stories, in humour or even in philosophy, the number three continues to make regular appearances.

As kids reading childhood stories, that we may still read to young ones today, the word three, figures quite prominently. There were three bears with Goldilocks, three pigs who were building houses to avoid the big bad wolf and three billy goats gruff dealing with an unpleasant troll.

At Christmas the story goes there were three wise men, but from memory at Sunday School we were told that their number was determined by the fact they left three gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And leaving aside Jacob Marley for a moment, Dickens in his Christmas Carol introduced us to the three Christmas ghosts.

In folklore, the old saying told us that “two’s company, three’s a crowd”. In more recent times that adage was given prominence when Princess Diana famously said in an interview, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”.

Mark Twain joined in the fascination for the number three on a couple of occasions. He said he needed three weeks to prepare an impromptu speech, as well as his statement that house guests were like fish. After three days they begin to stink.

Sport is another area that is dominated by the number three. In the modern Olympics, medals are awarded to the first three placegetters; gold, silver and bronze, whereas in the original Olympics in ancient Greece, the laurel wreath went only to the winner.

In horse- racing, a place bet is for a horse that runs in the first three, yet for some unexplained reason a bookmaker will divide the odds by four to work out your dividend. And of course in baseball, three strikes and you’re out!

Even in education, some give three a mention. American comedian Will Rogers said there were three ways to learn. “Some learn by reading, some learn by observation while some still need to learn by peeing on the electric fence.”

IN FOLKLORE, THE OLD SAYING TOLD US THAT “TWO’S COMPANY, THREE’S A CROWD”

We can only wonder what Mae West was talking about when she said, “I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it and three times just to make sure!”

While there are some who reckon if two wrongs don’t make a right, why not try three wrongs.

However, let me finish on a further light note. It is often felt that maths in the general population needs improving. I’m not sure about that. I reckon there are three kinds of people in the world.

There are those who are good at maths and those who aren’t!