9 (nine) is the natural number following 8 and preceding 10. The ordinal adjective is ninth.

Mathematics

Nine is a composite number, its proper divisors being 1 and 3. It is 3 times 3 and hence the third square number. 9 is a Motzkin number. It is the first composite lucky number.

Nine is the highest single-digit number in the decimal system. It is the second non-unitary square prime of the form (p²) and the first that is odd. All subsequent squares of this form are odd. It has a unique aliquot sum 4 which is itself a square prime. 9 is; and can be, the only square prime with an aliquot sum of the same form. The aliquot sequence of 9 has 5 members (9,4,3,1,0) this number being the second composite member of the 3-aliquot tree.

There are nine Heegner numbers.

Since $9\; =\; 3^\{2^1\}$, 9 is an exponential factorial.

8 and 9 form a Ruth-Aaron pair under the second definition that counts repeated prime factors as often as they occur.

A polygon with nine sides is called a nonagon or enneagon. A group of nine of anything is called an ennead.

In base 10 a number is evenly divisible by nine if and only if its digital root is 9. That is, if you multiply nine by any natural number, and repeatedly add the digits of the answer until it is just one digit, you will end up with nine:

• 2 × 9 = 18 (1 + 8 = 9)
• 3 × 9 = 27 (2 + 7 = 9)
• 9 × 9 = 81 (8 + 1 = 9)
• 121 × 9 = 1089 (1 + 0 + 8 + 9 = 18; 1 + 8 = 9)
• 234 × 9 = 2106 (2 + 1 + 0 + 6 = 9)
• 578329 × 9 = 5204961 (5 + 2 + 0 + 4 + 9 + 6 + 1 = 27 (2 + 7 = 9))
• 482729235601 × 9 = 4344563120409 (4 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 9 = 45 (4 + 5 = 9))

The only other number with this property is three. In base N, the divisors of N − 1 have this property. Another consequence of 9 being 10 − 1, is that it is also a Kaprekar number.

The difference between a base-10 positive integer and the sum of its digits is a whole multiple of nine. Examples:

• The sum of the digits of 41 is 5, and 41-5 = 36. The digital root of 36 is 3+6 = 9, which, as explained above, demonstrates that it is evenly divisible by nine.
• The sum of the digits of 35967930 is 3+5+9+6+7+9+3+0 = 42, and 35967930-42 = 35967888. The digital root of 35967888 is 3+5+9+6+7+8+8+8 = 54, 5+4 = 9.

Subtracting two base-10 positive integers that are transpositions of each other yields a number that is a whole multiple of nine. Some examples:

• 41-14 = 27. The digital root of 27 is 2+7 = 9.
• 36957930-35967930 = 990000, which is obviously a multiple of nine.

This works regardless of the number of digits that are transposed. For example, the largest transposition of 35967930 is 99765330 (all digits in descending order) and its smallest transposition is 03356799 (all digits in ascending order); subtracting pairs of these numbers produces: