3686

3686, written six-sixes-sur-demi-cent-sur-six-fois-six-cents (literally: six sixes over (½ x 100) over 6 x (6 x 100)) and pronounced /sis:sizəs:yr:dəmisãsyrsi.fwasis:ãs/, is a popular and culturally important number in the Republic of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands. As the last "unique" number in the Indian Ocean French number system, it is believed that the number represents luck and happiness, and can often be seen on culturally or personally important objects like buildings, boats, and gravestones.

Name
3686, in Indian Ocean French, is spelled six-sixes-sur-demi-cent-sur-six-fois-six-cents, which translates into "six sixes over half a hundred over six times six hundreds" (six-sixes-sur-demi-cent-sur-six-fois-six-cents), or in other words, 36 (six-sixes or "six sixes" in Indian Ocean French), over 50 (demi-cent or "half a hundred"), over 3600 (six-fois-six-cents or "six times six hundred").

Uniqueness
3686 is considered to be the last unique number in the counting system of Indian Ocean French. This is because it is the last number to be counted using either three or six times a multiple of six to refer to a number (trois-sixes means 18, six-sixes means 36), in this case the six-fois-six-cents meaning 3600, to be followed by a previous unique number, in this case the last unique number before 100, namely six-sixes-sur-demi-cent meaning 86.

The reason, then, that 3686 is considered the last unique number, is because it is the last unique number to be followed by another unique number, as all numbers above 3686 follow normal numbering conventions. For example, the number 36,000 is written out as six-sixes-mils; if it were written as six-fois-six-mils, it would have been considered to be unique.

Cultural importance
In the Southern Indian Ocean Islands, and especially on the Kerguelen Islands, the Crozet Islands, Île Amsterdam and Île Saint-Paul, 3686 is believed to be a lucky number, and is often used as a token or inscription to incite or wish luck.

Gravestones on the francophone islands usually have a small "3686" carved in them, to wish the deceased luck in the afterlife.

Buildings will have one brick or stone with "3686" engraved on it, which is said to protect the building against disasters. If a brick or stone carrying the 3686 inscription cracks, it is considered a bad omen.

Letters or cards wishing luck, happy birthday, or good recoverings, are signed with one's autograph and "3686". A famous example of this can be seen in The Diaries of Géneviève Delarose, wherein she in one of her entries signs off with "3686" as she is about to get stuck in her train in a snowstorm, high up in the mountains.