Because 1728 is an incredibly surprising number, showing up most prominently at the center of elliptic curves, modular forms, and L-functions: https://en.wikipe

Because 1728 is an incredibly surprising number, showing up most prominently at the center of elliptic curves, modular forms, and L-functions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-invariant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-invariant And 1729 is 1728 + 1. Not even kidding, that is a thing that happens.