This monumental group depicts an episode from the book of Genesis (Chapter 32, verses 24-32). According to the Biblical story, Jacob was forced to wrestle with an unknown assailant through the night. In the morning his opponent blessed him because he had not abandoned the struggle, and revealed himself to be an angel and messenger from God. Jacob gave thanks saying, 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved'. During the early 1930s Epstein had read and re-read the book of Genesis and executed a series of unconventional water-colours on Old Testament stories. The subject of Jacob and the Angel fascinated him and may have had personal significance, not least because of the fact that Epstein's first name was Jacob.
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As a triangular number, 153 is the sum of the first 17 integers, and is also the sum of the first five positive factorials:1!+2!+3!+4!+5!.[1]
The number 153 is also a hexagonal number, and a truncated triangle number, meaning that 1, 15, and 153 are all triangle numbers.
The distinct prime factors of 153 add up to 20, and so do the ones of 154, hence the two form a Ruth-Aaron pair.
Since 153 = 1^3 + 5^3 + 3^3, it is a 3-narcissistic number, and it is also the smallest three-digit number which can be expressed as the sum of cubes of its digits.[2] Only five other numbers can be expressed as the sum of the cubes of their digits: 0, 1, 370, 371 and 407.[3] It is also a Friedman number, since 153 = 3 × 51, and a Harshad number in base 10, being divisible by the sum of its own digits.
The Biggs–Smith graph is a symmetric graph with 153 edges, all equivalent.
Another interesting feature of the number 153 is that it is the limit of the following algorithm:[4][5]
Take a random positive integer, divisible by three.
Split that number into its base 10 digits.
Take the sum of their cubes.
Go back to the second step.
These xians thought they had proofs of their thinking from many different directions. They evidenced their proofs through their rituals. They threw loads of things into their new pot pouri and then had wondrous arguments about which were the important ingredients - giving the idea of heresy, this is the only way to bake this cake, to raise this christ!
NS are part of the recipe, probably musical, mathematical and tracking back to the old Jewish holy ideas - truly the name above all names. Isa, the pi of the gods.