54
A Rubik's Cube shows 54 coloured stickers, six faces of nine, and a full pack of cards with both jokers is 54. 54 is also the atomic number of xenon.
- Even
- Composite
Where 54 fits
Why 54 is special
54 completes the Rubik's Cube picture alongside 27 (its unit-cube count): six faces of nine stickers each.
Same number, different meanings
How 54 is understood across different contexts — never implying one meaning because of another.
- Mathematics
54 completes the Rubik's Cube picture alongside 27 (its unit-cube count): six faces of nine stickers each.
- Everyday life
A standard pack of playing cards holds 52 cards plus two jokers, making 54 — the count printed on most boxes and the one most games that use jokers actually deal from. The jokers arrived far later than the rest of the pack, added in the United States in the 1860s for the game of euchre.
- Media & popular culture
Studio 54, the New York nightclub that became shorthand for late-1970s disco culture, took its name from its location on West 54th Street. It operated in its original form for only 33 months.
- Science
54 is the atomic number of xenon. It is used in high-intensity lamps, works as a general anaesthetic, and is the propellant of choice for the ion thrusters that drive several deep-space probes.
Factors & digit properties
- Divisors (8)
- 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18, 27, 54
- Prime factorisation
- 2 × 3^3
- Digit sum
- 9
- Digital root
- 9
Representations
- Decimal
- 54
- Scientific notation
- 5.400 × 10^1
Roman numerals
L I V
LIV uses the subtractive pair IV: one before five — five minus one.
Binary
1 1 0 1 1 0
1 × 32 + 1 × 16 + 0 × 8 + 1 × 4 + 1 × 2 + 0 × 1 = 54
Octal
6 6
6 × 8 + 6 × 1 = 54
Hexadecimal
3 6
3 × 16 + 6 × 1 = 54
Read as powers of two: 32 + 16 + 4 + 2 = 54.
In historical numeral systems
Egyptian
5 hobbles, 4 strokes
5 × 10 + 4 × 1 = 54. The signs are simply repeated and added; where they sit on the line is a matter of layout, not value.
Babylonian
5 corner wedges + 4 vertical wedges
54 fits in a single sexagesimal place: 5 corner wedges + 4 vertical wedges.
Greek (Ionic)
nu, then delta, marked as a numeral
nu-delta + keraia
nu + delta written in descending order and added — the letters carry their values wherever they stand, so this is addition, not place value.
Hebrew numerals
nun, then dalet
nun-dalet
nun (50) + dalet (4) = 54, written in descending order.
Chinese numerals
wǔ shí sì
wǔ shí sì
五 before 十 multiplies it: 5 tens. 四 after it adds 4. The written form mirrors the arithmetic — "wǔ shí sì". The financial (anti-fraud) form is 伍拾肆.
Maya
2 dots (upper, twenties place) over 2 bars + 4 dots (lower, units place)
2 × 20 + 14 = 54. 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
- Abundant number
- Harshad (Niven) number
Related numbers & connections
27 is a factor of 54 (27 × 2 = 54).
View 27 →Uruguay and Argentina face each other across the River Plate and share a numbering region assigned in sequence.
View 598 →Everyday life
A standard pack of playing cards holds 52 cards plus two jokers, making 54 — the count printed on most boxes and the one most games that use jokers actually deal from. The jokers arrived far later than the rest of the pack, added in the United States in the 1860s for the game of euchre.
DocumentedEveryday life
Media & popular culture
Studio 54, the New York nightclub that became shorthand for late-1970s disco culture, took its name from its location on West 54th Street. It operated in its original form for only 33 months.
DocumentedMedia & popular cultureGeography: New York CityPeriod: 1977-1980A Rubik's Cube has 54 visible coloured stickers: six faces of nine squares each (6 × 9 = 54).
DocumentedMedia & popular culture
Mathematics
54 is the smallest number expressible as the sum of three positive squares in three different ways: 1² + 2² + 7², 2² + 5² + 5², and 3² + 3² + 6². Which numbers can be written as three squares at all is settled by an old theorem of Legendre — those not of the form 4ᵃ(8b + 7) — but how many ways is a much harder question.
DocumentedMathematics
Science
54 is the atomic number of xenon. It is used in high-intensity lamps, works as a general anaesthetic, and is the propellant of choice for the ion thrusters that drive several deep-space probes.
DocumentedScience
Common questions
How many stickers are on a Rubik's Cube?
54 — six faces of nine. The cube is built from 27 smaller cubes, but only 26 are visible: one sits hidden at the centre, and the corner and edge pieces show three and two faces respectively.
How many cards are in a full pack?
52 for play, 54 with the two jokers — which is the count printed on most boxes. The jokers are a late addition: they were introduced in the United States in the 1860s for euchre, some four centuries after the rest of the pack settled into four suits of thirteen.
Is 54 a prime number?
No, 54 is not prime.
What are the factors of 54?
The factors of 54 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18, 27, 54.
What is 54 in Roman numerals?
54 in Roman numerals is LIV. IV is subtractive: one before five — five minus one. Written additively it would be LIIII, 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: 5 reviewer-confirmed records, sourced and reviewed before publication.
Last reviewed: 15 July 2026