Hebrew numerals

The system of Hebrew numerals is a quasi-decimal alphabetic numeral system using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet

In this system, there was no notation for zero, and the numeric values for individual letters was added together. Each unit (1, 2, ..., 9) isassigned a separate letter, each tens (10, 20, ..., 90) a separate letter, and each hundreds (100, 200, ..., 900) a separate letter. This system requires 27 letters, so the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet is extended to 27 by using 5 sofeet forms of the Hebrew letters. The sofeet or final form of a Hebrew letter is the form used when that letter is written as the last letter of a word.

The alphabetic system operates on the additive principle in which the numeric values of the letters are added together to form the total. For example, 177 is represented as קעז which corresponds to 100 + 70 + 7 = 177.

This system can be used for converting words into numbers and is used in a form of mysticism called Gematria.

Hebrew	Decimal
Aleph	1	א
Bet	2	ב
Gimmel	3	ג
Dalet	4	ד
Hey	5	ה
Vav	6	ו
Zayin	7	ז
Het	8	ח
Tet	9	ט
Yod	10	י
Kaf	20	כ
Lamed	30	ל
Mem	40	מ
Nun	50	נ
Samekh	60	ס
Ayin	70	ע
Phei	80	פ
Tsadei	90	צ
Kuf	100	ק
Resh	200	ר
Shin	300	ש
Tav	400	ת
Kaf Sofeet	500	ך
Mem Sofeet	600	ם
NuN Sofeet	700	ן
Phei Sofeet	800	ף
Tsadei Sofeet	900	ץ

Note these special forms for 15 and 16: they were introduced in order to refrain from using the "sacred" combinations that are a part of The name of God in Judaism:

Hebrew	Decimal
Teth waw (tu)	15	ט"ו
Teth zayin	16	ט"ז

See also: Numeral system, Arabic numerals, Armenian numerals, Babylonian numerals, Chinese numerals, Greek numerals, Indian numerals, Mayan numerals, Roman numerals.

External link

• http://www.inner.org/gematria/gemchart.htm