Take a number, any number, and every other number is either more, less or equal to that number - a trichotomy that has direct parallels with Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean: “Every ethical virtue is a golden mean (just right) between two vices - one an excess, the other a deficiency,” as Hart describes it. To bolster her case, she also points to trichotomies. It’s a poetic argument, if not completely convincing. These geometric properties give the number three “a sense of strength and completeness, and also often of equitability,” Hart writes. And the equilateral triangle is the only shape with both equal-length sides and equidistant corners. Three is the minimum number of points that can define a two-dimensional shape, and the minimum number of sticks that can be bound to make a stable rigid structure, that is, a triangle. Hart suggests this emphasis on three has some basis in geometry. Characters tend to come in threes too, like “The Three Little Pigs,” and even in jokes like “A priest, a minister and a rabbi…” It pervades common phrases - “Three cheers for…,” “Ready, Set, Go,” “Learning your ABCs.” It’s also central to story structure for example, trilogies are more prevalent than tetralogies. The number three has a special hold on Western literature and languages in general.
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