Six
Six is the second smallest composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 2 and 3. Since six equals the sum of these proper divisors, six is a perfect number. As a perfect number, 6 is related to the Mersenne prime 3, since 21(22 - 1) = 6. The next perfect number is 28. Six is also a unitary perfect number, a harmonic divisor number and a highly composite number. The next highly composite number is 12.
The smallest non-abelian group is the symmetric group S3 which has 3! = 6 elements.
 S6, with 720 elements, is the only finite symmetric group which has an outer automorphism. This automorphism allows us to construct a number of exceptional mathematical objects such as the S(5,6,12) Steiner system, the projective plane of order 4 and the Hoffman-Singleton graph. A closely related result is the following theorem: 6 is the only natural number n for which there is a construction of n isomorphic objects on an n-set A, invariant under all permutations of A, but not naturally in 1-1 correspondence with the elements of A. This can also be expressed category theoretically: consider the category whose objects are the n element sets and whose arrows are the bijections between the sets. This category has a non-trivial functor to itself only for n=6.
Six similar coins can be arranged around a central coin of the same radius so that each coin makes contact with the central one (and touches both its neighbors without a gap), but seven cannot be so arranged. This makes 6 the answer to the two-dimensional kissing number problem. The densest sphere packing of the plane is obtained by extending this pattern to the hexagonal lattice in which each circle touches just six others.
In binary code, six is 110; in ternary code six is 20; in quaternary numeral system code six is 12; in quinary six is 11; in senary six is 10; in septenary code and all codes above (such as octal, decimal and hexadecimal) six is 6. Since it is divisible by the sum of its digits in all these bases, 6 is one of the four all-Harshad numbers.
A six-sided polygon is a hexagon. Figurate numbers representing hexagons (including six) are called hexagonal numbers. Six is also an octahedral number. It is a triangular number and so is its square (36).
In base 10, 6 is a 1-automorphic number. | 
