Friends, the experts all seem to agree that the number 200 is powerful but problematic.

Back when I was approaching my 100th episode in 2019,

I started looking into the significance of the number 100 and I found nothing but good

omens. The number 100 is filled with positive connotations.

It's literally synonymous with perfection.

Nothing better than keeping it 100.

But 200, ooh, there's something shifty about 200.

Now famously there are two types of number experts out there.

There are mathematicians and there are numerologists.

Normally I would turn to the mathematicians for a sober and precise explanation of the significance of a number.

But I've found when it comes to the number 200,

mathematicians get downright poetic.

It turns out 200 is what mathematicians call an Achilles number.

Now, for someone who spends a good chunk of his life thinking about mythology

that caught my interest. What does the Homeric Hero Achilles, the mightiest of the

Greeks, have to do with 200.

Well, it turns out the term Achilles number

was coined by the English statistician Henry Bottomley, who aside from having a deep interest in mathematical

patterns also seems to have spent some time with the mythology of the Trojan War. So, what are these numbers?

Well, according to Mathworld.com, quote,

an Achilles number is a positive integer that is powerful, in the sense that each prime factor occurs with an exponent greater than one,

but imperfect, in the sense that the number is not a perfect power."

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