179
Port 179 carries BGP, the routing protocol that holds the internet together.
- Odd
- Prime
Where 179 fits
Why 179 is special
BGP is how independent networks tell each other which addresses they can reach. It runs on trust rather than proof, so a single mis-announced route has repeatedly taken large services offline worldwide — the 2021 Facebook outage and several national-scale disruptions were BGP events, not server failures.
179 is part of
Factors & digit properties
- Divisors (2)
- 1, 179
- Prime factorisation
- 179
- Digit sum
- 17
- Digital root
- 8
Representations
- Decimal
- 179
- Scientific notation
- 1.790 × 10^2
Roman numerals
C L X X I X
CLXXIX uses the subtractive pair IX: one before ten — ten minus one.
Binary
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
1 × 128 + 0 × 64 + 1 × 32 + 1 × 16 + 0 × 8 + 0 × 4 + 1 × 2 + 1 × 1 = 179
Octal
2 6 3
2 × 64 + 6 × 8 + 3 × 1 = 179
Hexadecimal
b 3
b × 16 + 3 × 1 = 179
Read as powers of two: 128 + 32 + 16 + 2 + 1 = 179.
In historical numeral systems
Egyptian
1 coil of rope, 7 hobbles, 9 strokes
1 × 100 + 7 × 10 + 9 × 1 = 179. The signs are simply repeated and added; where they sit on the line is a matter of layout, not value.
Babylonian
2 vertical wedges (sixties place), 5 corner wedges + 9 vertical wedges (units place)
2 × 60 + 59 = 179. Places are separated by a space on the tablet, with the higher place written first.
Greek (Ionic)
rho, then omicron, then theta, marked as a numeral
rho-omicron-theta + keraia
rho + omicron + theta written in descending order and added — the letters carry their values wherever they stand, so this is addition, not place value.
Hebrew numerals
qof, then ayin, then tet
qof-ayin-tet
qof (100) + ayin (70) + tet (9) = 179, written in descending order.
Maya
1 bar + 3 dots (upper, twenties place) over 3 bars + 4 dots (lower, units place)
8 × 20 + 19 = 179. Places stack vertically with the smallest at the bottom, so the upper group is worth twenty times the lower.
Systems that simply cannot reach this value are left out. Where a script needs a font most readers do not have, the reading is given instead of the glyphs — see number systems for each system in full.
Other mathematical patterns
- Deficient number
- Sophie Germain prime
- Safe prime
- Twin prime
Related numbers & connections
BGP carries the routing between independent networks, and the internet it routes for switched to TCP/IP in 1983. Routing between autonomous networks is what made a network of networks possible.
View 1983 →Technology & computing
Border Gateway Protocol sessions run over TCP port 179. Because peers are configured explicitly rather than discovered, the port is normally reachable only from known addresses.
DocumentedTechnology & computingGeography: International — IETFPeriod: 1989–BGP has no way to verify that a network genuinely owns the addresses it advertises, so a mistyped announcement propagates as readily as a correct one. Outages at Facebook in 2021 and national-scale disruptions elsewhere were BGP events, and the proposed fixes have been standardised for years without being universally adopted.
DocumentedTechnology & computing
Common questions
Is 179 a prime number?
Yes, 179 is prime — it has exactly two positive divisors: 1 and itself.
What are the factors of 179?
The factors of 179 are 1, 179.
What is 179 in Roman numerals?
179 in Roman numerals is CLXXIX. IX is subtractive: one before ten — ten minus one. Written additively it would be CLXXVIIII, which Roman inscriptions used freely — the strict subtractive form is a later convention.
About this page's data
Mathematical facts:computed directly from the number's value — nothing to source or verify externally.
Contextual records: 2 reviewer-confirmed records, sourced and reviewed before publication.
Last reviewed: 15 July 2026