the rule
letter arithmetic, and why it is not numerology
Number the alphabet: a is 1, b is 2, z is 26. Add up the letters of a word. That is the whole rule. SIMULATION comes to 133, THEORY to 91, and 133 − 91 is 42. Nothing on this site claims that means anything. It claims the arithmetic is true, which you can check with a pencil.
Two words with the same sum are called a coincidence here, because that is what they are. With 26 letters and a few thousand common words, sums collide constantly. What is rare is a collision that reads like a sentence: REALITY = OBSERVED, MIND = MAYA, DREAM = AWAKE. The site collects those. A mirror is a good example.
Other alphabets need their own rule, and the page always says which one it used.
- a=1 … z=26, letters only
- The English default. Spaces and punctuation are ignored; case does not matter.
- Greek ordinal, α=1 … ω=24, accents ignored
- The 24 letters of the Greek alphabet in order, α=1 to ω=24. Breathings and accents are ignored; final sigma counts as sigma.
- Greek isopsephy (α=1 … ι=10, κ=20 … ρ=100, σ=200 … ω=800)
- The Greeks’ own system: units α–θ (1–9, skipping the obsolete digamma), tens ι–π (10–80, skipping koppa), hundreds ρ–ω (100–800). This is how Greek numbers were actually written.
- Classical Latin, 23 letters (i=j, v=u), a=1 … z=23
- The classical alphabet had 23 letters: no J, U or W. I and J share a value, as do U and V. A=1 to Z=23.
- French, a=1 … z=26, accents ignored
- Same numbering as English. Accents are stripped first, so é counts as e.
- Chinese characters, total strokes (Unihan kTotalStrokes)
- Not letters: the total number of brush strokes in each character, from the Unihan database. Traditional and simplified characters differ, and the page says which it used.
type a word
a=1 … z=26, letters only. If it comes to 42, 91 or 133 the page will say so.