What is the Funniest Number? An investigation of numerical humor
arXiv:2503.24175
Abstract
In a preliminary study of numerical humor, we propose the Perceived Specificity Hypothesis (PSH). The PSH states that, for nonnegative integers < 100, the funniness of a number increases with its apparent precision. A survey of 68 individuals supports the veracity of this hypothesis and indicates that oddly specific numbers tend to be funniest. Our results motivate future study in this novel subfield.
11 pages, 5 figures. v2 contains minor fixes to spelling, links, and figure placement