Arithmancy is an ancient form of divination that relies on mathematics.
Arithmomancy, also called arithmancy, from the Greek arithmos (“number”) and manteia (“divination”), was practiced by the ancient Greeks, Chaldeans, and Hebrews; its successor is numerology. In these forms of number mysticism the letters of an alphabet are assigned numbers by some rule, typically A = 1, B = 2,…, Z = 26, or its equivalent. Words become numbers when their letter values are added together. People’s names, in particular, convert into numbers that are considered to have special significance. Thus, Ian Stewart, the name of the author of this article, becomes 9 + 1 + 14 + 19 + 20 + 5 + 23 + 1 + 18 + 20 = 130. The significance is clear: the year of his birth, 1945, was exactly 130 years after the Battle of Waterloo. Since 130 = 10 × 13, both the unlucky 13 and the perfect 10 are of importance; between themselves they explain just about anything, just like the superstition that seeing a praying mantis brings either good luck or bad luck—depending on what happens.
Arithmomancy, also called arithmancy, from the Greek arithmos (“number”) and manteia (“divination”), was practiced by the ancient Greeks, Chaldeans, and Hebrews; its successor is numerology. In these forms of number mysticism the letters of an alphabet are assigned numbers by some rule, typically A = 1, B = 2,…, Z = 26, or its equivalent. Words become numbers when their letter values are added together. People’s names, in particular, convert into numbers that are considered to have special significance. Thus, Ian Stewart, the name of the author of this article, becomes 9 + 1 + 14 + 19 + 20 + 5 + 23 + 1 + 18 + 20 = 130. The significance is clear: the year of his birth, 1945, was exactly 130 years after the Battle of Waterloo. Since 130 = 10 × 13, both the unlucky 13 and the perfect 10 are of importance; between themselves they explain just about anything, just like the superstition that seeing a praying mantis brings either good luck or bad luck—depending on what happens.
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