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Pythagorean numerology

Pythagorean numerology is the Western system that values each letter by its position in the alphabet: A to I as 1 to 9, J to R as 1 to 9 again, and S to Z as 1 to 8.

Pythagorean numerology, in full

The chart is the Latin alphabet written out in rows of nine. That structure is the whole system, and it is why S carries the same value as A and J, and why the letters near the end of the alphabet run short of a full row. Every name-based number in modern Western numerology, the Expression, the Soul Urge and the Personality, comes out of this one table.

The name is a lineage claim rather than a citation. Aristotle does report the Pythagoreans holding that number is the substance of all things, so the philosophical half of the label has a source behind it. The letter chart does not: it works on the Latin alphabet, which the Pythagoreans did not write in, and Greek already had its own letter-numerals on entirely different values. The history of the attribution is covered in our guide to what numerology is.

As a procedure the system is perfectly consistent, which is a separate question from whether it is old. The same name always gives the same number and anyone can check the working. The main rival, Chaldean numerology, assigns different values, uses no 9 for any letter, and reads the name a person actually goes by rather than the one on the birth record.

Category
Numerology
Also called
Western numerology, Modern numerology
In the glossary
All 75 terms, A–Z

A worked example

The same idea with real numbers attached.

Lay the alphabet in rows of nine. A B C D E F G H I take 1 through 9. J K L M N O P Q R take 1 through 9 again. S T U V W X Y Z take 1 through 8, so S is worth 1, the same as A and J. The name ANN totals 1 + 5 + 5 = 11, and 11 stays whole here rather than reducing to 2, because master numbers are preserved.

Sources

Every dated or checkable claim above, with where it came from.

See also

The terms that sit closest to this one.

Chaldean numerologyNumerologyChaldean numerology is a letter-to-number system using only the values 1 to 8, assigned by the sound of a letter rather than its alphabet position, with 9 withheld as sacred and given to no letter.Expression numberNumerologyAn Expression number is the total of every letter in a person's full birth name, converted to digits on the Pythagorean chart and reduced, read in numerology as the abilities and outward direction a name carries.Soul Urge numberNumerologyA Soul Urge number is what the vowels of a full birth name add up to once converted to digits and reduced, read in numerology as private motivation rather than visible behaviour.GematriaNumerologyGematria is the practice of reading Hebrew words as numbers, since each Hebrew letter also served as a numeral, and treating two words that share a total as commenting on each other.ReductionNumerologyReduction is numerology's core operation: add the digits of a number, then add the digits of the result, repeating until a single digit remains, except that 11, 22 and 33 are conventionally left standing.

Where it comes up on this site

What is numerology?Open →Expression number 1Open →Soul Urge number 1Open →Life Path numbersOpen →

Pythagorean numerology: frequently asked

No surviving text puts this chart anywhere near him. The name is traditional.

Pythagorean values follow alphabet order and run 1 to 9. Chaldean values follow sound, run 1 to 8, and leave 9 off every letter. Pythagorean readings take the full birth name, Chaldean readings take the name you go by. Same person, two answers.

Because 10 would reduce straight back to 1, so the table starts a new row instead. That is why S is worth 1.

More numerology terms

Birthday numberChaldean numerologyDigit sumExpression numberGematriaKarmic debt number

The rest of the vocabulary

Lottery mechanics, probability, numerology and astrology, defined in one A–Z.

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