144

A biography of the number 144, by K:

144 was a very special number. It had grown up on a farm and was very hard-working. It was very square and was often considered gross*. It was close friends with 12, being 12 squared and the 12th number in the Fibonacci sequence. It was the smallest number with exactly 15 divisors and was a Harshad number. All this fame was making 12 jealous, and he decided to think up of a way to get some of its own.
12 started writing 144 as 12^2, and pretty soon everyone was doing the same thing. This made 144 furious, for 12 and 2 were getting all the credit for things that it had worked hard to obtain. It had had to work hard to get into the Fibonacci sequence, and the test for entrance into the Harshad Academy was one of the hardest in the world. It had also had to spend a lot of hard-earned money in bribes to have its 5th power be the sum of 5 other 5th powers (27^5+84^5+110^5+133^5=144^5)
Once best of friends, 144 and 12 parted bitter enemies. To this day, they both hate each other and will not speak when they meet. 144 went on to found the Anti-square Foundation and led many anti-square rallies in which there were both square and non- square numbers. 144 also became a partner in the Anti-Powers Foundation. 12 became a leading politician for the Powers Party and was in second place for leading number several times (1, 0,i,or the square root of 2 always won). He set all of his weight against 144 and the things he supported. This made him very popular among his own party, but not as much among the other parties. To them 144 seemed like a martyr, having worked hard for his achievements only to have them stolen by 12 and 2. 144 gained support, and in the end the Powers Party was toppled as its members went to the Composite Party to save their political cases. In the year 4075 F#**, 144 was elected chief number. All of his hard work had payed off.

*gross is a mathematical term for 144
** F#=first number


(I know that I am also way overdue for posting pictures and updates about H. Whoever said that three is not much different than two was totally lying! There are pictures on Flickr for those who are interested.)