Debunking Numerology

A nine-sided dice

There are many things in life that people attach values to. Most of these are felt as genuine, as is the case for family, caring for people, love, compassion, empathy, safety. There are also concepts that in fact are less real in the absolute sense, but somehow feel comforting, or are just things that people believe in. In that category we include fortune telling, astrology, divination, psychic readings of any kind, and the idea of numerology.

Numerology is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and metaphysical phenomena or ideas. Numerology is about the lore that certain numbers have a special meaning for people, to be used as a warning, an advise, an explanation. Examples of these special numbers considered in numerology are:

Repetitions of the same two digits (11, 22, etc).

Some single numbers, like 5, 7 and 8 are considered to be special.

Repetitions of the same three digits (111, 222, etc), known as Angel numbers in numerology. Especially the number 777 serves as an example of what interpretation numerology attaches to it. I had to look it up, but it apparently means: "The number 777 is a highly spiritual Angel number signalling divine luck, alignment, and positive transformation. It suggests your efforts are yielding results, urging you to trust your intuition and continue your current path, often interpreted as a reward from the universe. It indicates impending blessings and deep, inner wisdom." - All that from a simple repetition of three number 7's.

Why does one attach meaning to a pattern in numbers? The eye easily detects those patterns in written text and numerologists collectively and historically found the urge to invent a meaning or interpretation for them, no matter that intuitively most people today really don't buy into it.

Numerology is completely manmade and is not supported by evidence from science, mathematics or nature. Like many creatures on Earth, humans have evolved with five digits, fingers or toes, on each hand or foot. When people needed to count things they used their digits. Therefore the number 5 stands out. The number 10 as well; all fingers on both hands. Mathematically there's no meaning; it's us humans that find it special. Our way of counting is based on the number 10 - the decimal notation. But there are other ways of counting if we want or need, like in computer science. Here the number-base is 2 - 'binary', 8 'octal' or 16 'hexadecimal'. Binary notation has just 0's and 1's, octal the numbers 0 through 7, and hexadecimal the characters 0 through 9 plus A through F for a total of 16. The number-base has a direct influence on how the number is written:

• decimal 10 is binary 1010

• decimal 10 is hexadecimal A

For the notion of numerology things would be entirely different if man had a different number of digits. If early man had based counting on 8 digits ('octal') the notation would look like this:

• decimal 10 is octal 12

Now for the crux of this reasoning let's repeat this for Angel number 777 of numerology:

• decimal 777 is binary 1100001001

• decimal 777 is octal 1411

• decimal 777 is hexadecimal 309

It is obvious that the appealing pattern 777 is completely destroyed if it is written in different number notations. And that is just because man used his 10 fingers to count. Therefore the interpretations of numerology are fully manmade, and divine intervention or the universe have nothing to do with it.

What remains is the conclusion that numerology appeals to some on the basis of seeing patterns in numbers, written down in decimal notation, which is based on our own physiology. Deeper meaning of these patterns is manmade, not the universe speaking. Numerology falls under the heading of superstition, like Friday 13th and black cats. For an alien with 6 fingers, human's number 777 would be written as 3333... Oops. Perhaps for a gullible six-fingered alien this would be a numerological sign.

Of course there are numbers or constants in mathematics that are 'special', for instance pi (π) and the prime numbers, but this has nothing to do with numerology or pattern recognition. People are often surprised by coincidences that seem too good to be random. They say "what are the chances?" Well, in the case of the Angel numbers, a sequence of three identical digits in a range of numbers from 111 to 999 is indeed quite rare: a chance of about 1%, and when you pick one particular number, say 777, the chance of seeing that is about 0.1%. But the same can be said for any number in that set: for example the chance of seeing the number 776 or 778 is also 0.1%. So there's nothing meaningfully special about the number 777, it only seems special by the way it looks. In a completely unbiased experiment, like rolling three nine-sided dices (yes they exist, see top illustration) and seeing one distinct number-pattern, one can call that a mere coincidence, the hand of God or the universe. I will go for the first interpretation.

I must note that most mathematical problems and methods circumvent the problem of the number-base and yet carry an accidental numerological aspect. These completely refrain from number assumptions that are based on humans, and are not intended to 'guide' people, advise or explain. Most of these are just coincidences and have no causal origin, just as happens over and over in daily life. To underscore this point, as I was typing the number 7, the clock struck 7 times: A coincidence without meaning. Other examples of perceived numerological origin are based on correlation and not on causation, a concept that is often confused by humans.

Numerology also deals with numbers that don't come in multiple digits. A popular number is the Life Path Number which is derived from your date of birth (just as certain astrological assessments). Again the issue of number-base comes somewhat into play, because it is usually done in the decimal number system (but could be redone in other number bases as well, because it does not rely on pattern recognition). The particular manipulation of the birth-date numbers (which is not motivated in any way), ultimately leads to a number of Life Paths. These spell out what kind of person you are supposed to be, in a degree of detail that simply cannot be derived from your date of birth. This form of numerology appeals to the belief, or gullibility of those appreciating the occult and are willing to go through the motions. And the results feed that belief by listing traits that people love to hear about themselves.

There's also a lineage of 'numerology' that deals with letters instead of numbers. The fallacy of this becomes quickly apparent: The latin alphabet, which is used in English and many other languages, cannot support a valid numerological idea, while simply bypassing all the other letters in other languages and alphabets, Chinese, Korean, Cyrillic, Bhutanese, etc.

Having provided reasons that effectively debunk numerology, I want to conclude by saying that if you have a personality that lets mysticism, metaphysics or the occult play a role in your life, of course you are totally free to examine and embrace numerology, as a way to find out who you are supposed to be, and take guidance from. But for the rest of us it is interesting to follow the methods, sometimes quite convolved, of coming to numerological verdicts. Likewise, reading the history of numerology, which is long, makes for interesting insights on how lineages of numerology originated in various cultures around the world. My motivation for writing this blog post? It is not my intention to deny people their belief in numerology or similar mystical teachings and practices. Rather, I wish to offer an analysis or perspective from the viewpoint of critical thinking. In case I succeed in getting people to rethink their beliefs, then this effort has been worthwhile.

©2026 Rob Millenaar