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Did any of the writers or producers ever say what the importance of the number 47 was since it shows up all over the place?

The significance of #47 is just that its significant to the show Alias. J.J. Abrams puts numbers in his works, wiether or not it means anything will prolly be a mystery forever, but it doesnt mean anything in terms to the show.

The importance of 47 is really best explained on its very own wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-seven

They go over a lot of the good stuff there, like the belief that it is the most commonly occurring prime number. This is also a belief I read in one of my books about Firefly, where they say that there's a lot of 47s in both that show and even Buffy, though I can't say I noticed them there.

I'm so going to join the 47 community (see the wiki page)

I think it was also used a lot in a few of the Star Trek series. Honestly, the whole idea of 47 is why it's part of my username.

Actually it also turned up in a recent episode of J J Abrams latest series - Fringe.