ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Plato's number

Plato's number is a special number that was named after the famous philosopher named Plato. This number is also known as the perfect number. To understand this better, you could think of it as a type of number that has a special ability.

A perfect number is a number that is equal to the sum of all its factors except itself. Let's say we have a number 6. Its factors are 1, 2, 3, and 6. If we add up all of its factors except itself, we get 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. Therefore, 6 is a perfect number.

Plato's number is a specifically special perfect number. It is made up of three digits of the number 3. So it is 333 (three threes). When you add up all the factors of this number, you get 1 + 3 + 37 + 111 + 333 = 485. And if you add up all the factors of 485, you get 1 + 5 + 97 + 485 = 588. Therefore, 588 is also a perfect number.

In summary, Plato's number is a special number that is the sum of all its factors except itself, and it consists of three digits of the number 3 (333). It is called a perfect number, and it has a special ability that makes it unique.
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