The 6th-century BCE philosopher and mystic Pythagoras believed that numbers carried sacred codes and were divinely inspired and created. An Assyrian inscription from the 8th century BC, commissioned by Sargon II declares 'the king built the wall of Khorsabad 16,283 cubits long to correspond with the numerical value of his name.' Rabbinic literature used gematria to interpret passages in the Hebrew Bible.

The practice of gematria, assigning numerical values to words and names and imputing those values with religious meaning, dates back to antiquity. Although the word 'arithmancy' dates to the 1570s, the word 'numerology' is not recorded in English before c. 'Αριθμομαντεία' Arithmancy is thus the study of divination through numbers. The term arithmancy is derived from two Greek words – arithmos (meaning number) and manteia (meaning divination). For example, in his 1997 book Numerology: Or What Pythagoras Wrought ( Dudley 1997), mathematician Underwood Dudley uses the term to discuss practitioners of the Elliott wave principle of stock market analysis. The term numerologist can be used for those who place faith in numerical patterns and draw inferences from them, even if those people do not practice traditional numerology. It is often associated with the paranormal, alongside astrology, and is similar to divinatory arts. When numerology is applied to a person's name, it is a form of onomancy. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in words and names.

Numerology (known prior to the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. Numerorum mysteria (1591), a treatise on numerology by Pietro Bongo and his most influential work in Europe ( September 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations.

Pythagorean numerology analysis