Floor #13: Can it be eliminated?

Have any of you ever seen an elevator button with the number 13 depicted on it? I don't recall ever seeing one. I've been to many buildings, and there is never a number 13. In some cases, numbers 0, 4, 10, 14, and any other number with 4, are missing, as well as 13. Assuming a building has 16 floors, this may be the order the elevator buttons are depicted: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18.

Aside from the other numbers, why is the number 13 missing? What kind of alligator shit, scam is this? Who hired a kindergarden to sequence the elevator buttons? Is the number 13 really supposed to be unlucky? Can't those who believe in luck, stick to their own beliefs, not force them upon other people, and not try to change the facts? Because this is skunk shit. And why is society accepting of this? Why do people think nothing of large mistakes like this? Most of the rest of my post will be under assumption that only the 13th floor is missing.

You cannot eliminate the 13th floor, by calling it the 14th floor. The 13th floor will only not exist if the building has 12 floors. Floors are not named, they are numbered. Because they are numbered, their order must be perfect. All numbers must exist, and have a difference of 1 between them, since their order is telling of the facts. Their order must be perfect, because it merely states the knowledge of the existence of the floors, and how many of them exist. Numbers have always existed. Man has only discovered them, therefore, man cannot change the numerical law. Numbers count the existence of things. Removing certain numbers shows that people are more interested in the way numbers look, rather than their true purpose of coutning the existence of such things. You cannot change how many certain things exist, by eliminating certain numbers. If I were to pick up a rock, and engrave "flower" onto it, does that change what the rock is? No, it does not. Calling something different, does not change it, it only serves as an untruth. If you try to eliminate the 13th floor, by calling it the 14th floor, in truth, the 14th floor becomes the 13th floor, since numbers exist as they are, and changing the order of the numbers, and eliminating certain numbers, is false to the existence of where the numbers stand.

Let's say that the 13th floor really is unlucky, and you change the elevator number from 13, to 14. Since the so-called 14th floor, is really the 13th floor, the bad luck will still exist in that floor, because you cannot change fact, by stating otherwise, like changing the numbers in the elevator buttons.

If you thought that the number 13 was unlucky, lived in floor number 13, which was depicted as floor number 14, as an elevator button, not the true existence of what number the floor really is, and did not experience bad luck, because you did not know that the so-called 14th floor, was really the 13th floor, than that is proof that bad luck is all in the mind of those who believe in it.

If we took the 13th floor, and called it the 14th floor, would that really change the 13th floor, into the 14th floor?, No. The so-called 14th, is still the 13th floor, and would still obtain the bad luck, because it's impossible to change the 13th floor, into the 14th floor, unless a real floor was added below the 13th floor. If that were the case, the 12th floor would become the real, new 13th floor, and the so called "bad luck" would descend from the old 13th floor, that became the real, new 14th floor, down to the old 12th floor, that became the real, new 13th floor.

Changing the order of the numbers in writing, will not change their real existence of their true orders. The writing should serve as a simple convenience in giving the knowledge of how the numbers stand in truth, and should not be changed to fit certain beliefs, since their change in writing, cannot change their true, numerical existence. What kind of simple convenience is this? This is stupid. There is no such thing as luck. It does not exist. And even if it does, it should have no effect on the way numbers are written down, or depicted in an elevator, since changing the order of the numbers as they are written down, or depicted in the elevator, does not change their numerical existence. This all goes for all numbers, and not just the number 13.

Floor #0: Does it exist?

Now let's talk about "floor 0." What number is the "Ground" floor? If no other floors exist below the "Ground" floor, than wouldn't the "Ground" floor be "floor 1," since it is the first floor, in numerical existence, if you counted all the floors from the ground, to the top? However, must the floor be in elevation? If the first floor in elevation, which is the floor above "Ground," is counted as "floor 1," than wouldn't the "Ground" floor, be "floor 0," assuming there are no floors beneath the "Ground" floor? "Ground" floor has 0 elevation, therefore, would it not be called "floor 0?" If you looked at a ruler, the very first centimeter line is "0," and the second centimeter line is "1." Is this the same for buildings? Then again, we are not counting the gaps in between the floors, but the floors themselves, right?

So is the numerical sequence of the centimeter lines in a ruler, the same with the number of floors in a building? If not, and if the "Ground" floor is "floor 1," than would the floor beneath "floor 1" be "floor 0," or "floor -1?" Well, if the floor beneath "Ground" is "floor 0," than would that mean that the floor doesn't exist, since non-existence is what the number "0" signifies? However, if the floor below is -1, and since -1 is a difference of 2 between 1, it cannot exist directly below 1 in the numerical law, since all numbers are counted by ones. Therefore, 0 must exist between floor 1, and floor -1, to eliminate the difference of 2, but where? 0 exists for a reason, and has some significant importance in the numberical law, even if its value is of non-existence.  So is the first floor in a building, "floor 1," "floor 0," or a floor of a negative number? If "floor 1" is set as the first floor of elevation, "floor 0," is set as "Ground," or "floor of no elevation," than any floors, below "Ground," are floors of negative numbers. Perhaps they all exist. It all depends on how you number them. Depending on how they are set, they all make sense in the laws of numbers.

So what if there are floors below the "Ground" floor? For example, what if there are three floors that exist below the "Ground" floor? Will the bottom floor be "floor -3?" Will the floors exist as "-3, -2, -1, 1, 2, 3...?" That shouldn't be possible, since -1 is two numbers different from 1, but if the number 0 does not exist, how can a floor, truly exist between -1, and 1, to eliminate the difference of two, between -1, and 1? Maybe that is not how it is. Maybe the very first floor is 1, or 0, and not -3. Again, it all depends on the placements of the numbers, and how you count the floors.

The number 0 does have relative importance to the numberical law, therefore, perhaps floor 0 can exist between -1, and 1, so that 1, and -1, are not two numbers apart. If that were the case, the first floor below the "Ground" level, would be "floor 0," and than the negative numbers would follow below it, so that the order is "-2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3..." However, there are 3 floors beneath "Ground," and not 2, so the sequence should not start at "-2." The mistake was counting 0 as a number of existence, but 0 is needed to exist between 1, and -1, or else a difference of 2 will exist between 1, and -1, and each number must be a difference of 1, from the other, in the numerical law. Well, this is how I may conclude it:

Floor 20
Floor 19
Floor 18
Floor 17
Floor 16
Floor 15
Floor 14
Floor 13
Floor 12
Floor 11
Floor 10
Floor 9
Floor 8
Floor 7
Floor 6
Floor 5
Floor 4
Floor 3
Floor 2
Floor 1 (As the first floor in elevation, above "Ground")
Floor 0 (As "Ground")
Floor -1 ("As the first floor, below "Ground")
Floor -2
Floor -3

The floors that exist in elevation are counted, starting from 1. since the "Ground" floor does not exist in elevation, and non-existence signifies the number 0. The "Ground" level, which is "floor 0," is much like the first centimeter line in a ruler, which is "0," and the second centimeter line is 1, since 1 centimeter exists between the two numbers. But we are not counting the gaps between the floors, but the floors themselves, so would that not count "Ground" as the first floor? If so, the floor beneath would be "floor -1." But that can't be, because there is a difference of two numbers between -1, and 1, therefore, 0 must exist in between, so that all the numbers have a difference of one. Only question is, which floor is "floor 0?" The numerical law is going against what is thought to be simple logic. Well, I'm still going to assume that "Ground" is "floor 0," since it appears to fit the numerical law, better than if "Ground" is "floor 1." It only makes sense that the floors are counted in elevation, or else there may not be a "floor 0," or floors of negative numbers. As it stands, I'm going to agree with my list.

Dude, there must be more constructive things for you to do with your time other than ponder elevator floor markings. Maybe you should go play a video game? I've heard they're lots of fun.

Amazing. People are afraid of the number 13.

Well said, EEPiccolo.

Where do you live, a.l.e.x59? It's unusual that you mention the lack of the number 4 in a building, because normally you only see that in Asian countries, specifically ones where Chinese is spoken.

Anyhow, I've lived in several countries and this is what I can tell you:

[ Taiwan ]

Hospitals will never have 4, 10, 14 (or anything with a 4) or 13 marked as floors. The reason is because 4 & 10 sound very much like the word "death" in the Beijing Dialect, which is the official language of China and Taiwan. As for the number 13, well, it's just associated with bad luck. No hospital would like to have floors associated with bad luck or death!

[ South America in general ]

Floors don't start with a 1. They start with PB, which means "Planta Baja" or "Ground Floor". Actually, this is the same in the UK and Hong Kong (being that they were a British colony). Some buildings have MZ for mezzanine but this depends on the building - whether it has a mezzanine or not.

[ Hong Kong ]

Some buildings use 0 for the first, or ground, floor. 

The building where I work you have to punch in the floor number to call the elevator - there is no Up/Down button. Therefore, the ground floor is 1, and the basement is -1.

Can't think of any more cases at the moment...

It's all about superstition. Some people/cultures believe in it, but personally, I think that it's bad luck to be superstitious...

You know, being that I'm not the world's supreme overseer of elevator regulations nor am I the plenipotentiary commissar of floor regulations, I didn't make these rules. Different countries have different beliefs, cultures, traditions and religions and for them numerology plays a huge role - not just in building regulations, but in daily life in general.

Chinese normally rely on numerology to determine auspicious days to open a company, to get married, to bury the deceased, and as far as they're concerned, they frankly don't give a rat's ass what number precedes the other. It's the symbolical value of the number that's important.

For South America, the situation is different. They don't care about the floors per se, but the function of the floor. That's why they give names to the first few floors, as they perform certain "functions" - you know, like the ground floor normally houses a lobby (which some countries also denominate what you consider "floor 0"). And if you don't have the mezzanine denominated as such, then people won't know there's a mezzanine.

Finally, about my superstition comment - read it again...

The only importance numbers serve are to count the things that exist.

Numerical laws should not be altered by beliefs of luck.

Good luck telling that to the over 2 billion Chinese and Indian population who believe otherwise, have believed otherwise for millenia, and will continue to believe otherwise. They've only built their entire culture around these beliefs!

You can eliminate numbers in writing, but you can never eliminate numbers in existence. If there are 20 rocks, there are 20 rocks. Without removal of any of the rocks, it is not possible to remove the 13th rock. You can engrave 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 on the rocks, but there will still be 13 rocks in existence. The rock with "14" engraved on it, is still the 13th rock, no matter what you do, because in true existence, 13 rocks exist. Therefore, the number "14" is a false truth, only to support the"luck" theory, and is a lie to the numberical law.

No one is arguing that!

But the same reason why some hockey players don't wash their jockstrap because they somehow believe they are scoring because of the accumulated sweat in aforementioned protective gear is because some people do believe in superstition. You don't but unfortunately the world doesn't revolve around you, and the fact remains there are billions of people who believe in superstition, and especially numerology. You know, like the horoscope.

If you go to www.skyscraperpage.com you will find a database of thousands of buildings. They list the floors, and they do count floor 13, 44, etc to reach the total number of floors. They follow the "numerical law" because it makes sense when counting the total number of floors in a building database. But some people are simply bothered by having to work or live on a "bad luck number" floor.

And the "luck" theory is not "theory" - it's superstition. Everyone knows that. But again, tell that right wing to wash his jockstrap when he's on a record streak of 3 goals per game average...

I don't want the world to revolve around me. I want to world to revolve around facts. Well, I'm glad that some buildings follow the numerical laws, and have floors from ...-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3...