Numerology API conventions: number systems, names and dates

Books on numerology do not all agree. This page says which rules the API follows, so you know what your users will see.

Chaldean and Pythagorean

A name becomes a number by giving each letter a value and adding them up. There are two common systems. Chaldean is the one used most in Indian numerology, and it is the default. Pythagorean gives the letters 1 to 9 in order, and it is the one Western numerology uses.

Numerology turns a person's name and date of birth into numbers, as described by Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Chaldean letter values, with no letter worth 9, follow the table in Cheiro's Book of Numbers (1926). The Pythagorean letter values, 1 to 9 in alphabet order, match the table in L. Dow Balliett's The Philosophy of Numbers (1908).

The name number comes back in both systems, side by side and labelled with system. Only the Chaldean one is read. The two are never mixed in one number. The Western numbers (POST /v1/western) use Pythagorean only. The guide Chaldean vs Pythagorean numerology works one real name through both.

Master numbers

A number is added up digit by digit until one digit is left: 15 becomes 1 + 5 = 6. When the total on the way is 11, 22 or 33, it is called a master number.

• The Indian numbers always end on one digit. The bhagyank keeps the full sum in total. It sets master to true when that sum, or a step on the way down, is a master number. John Doe’s birth date adds up to 33, so his bhagyank is 6 with master true.
• The Western numbers keep the master number itself (11, 22 or 33) in number. The single digit sits beside it in digit.
• Compound numbers (10 to 52) come back in compound, but they are not read.

Numbers and planets

Each number from 1 to 9 belongs to a planet, as in ank jyotish (Indian numerology). This order is not the usual order of the planets. So map a number to its planet by name, never by position.

Planet codes stay in English in every language (planet). The name in the reader’s language sits beside it in planet_name.

How a fit is decided

Many answers say how well one number suits another, such as a phone number and its owner. Two numbers are friendly when their planets are friends. Friendship can be one-sided, so both directions are returned. Rahu and Ketu are read as Saturn and Mars, and the answer says so in via.

The fit uses one stated rule, with no weights:

• good: at least one friend and no enemy.
• difficult: at least one enemy and no friend.
• mixed: one of each.
• neutral: neither.

Lists of names and spellings come back in a fixed order. They are never ranked. If a rule ever changes, the changelog marks it “Changes results”.

Names

Names must be in English letters. A name in another script, such as Hindi, is refused with an error. It is not changed into English letters for you, because each spelling gives a different number. Ask your user how they spell their name in English.

In the Western numbers, Y counts as a vowel when neither letter beside it is a vowel. W always counts as a consonant.

Dates

Dates are calendar dates in YYYY-MM-DD form, such as 1990-08-15. No birth time or place is needed. The mulank uses the calendar day, not a day that starts at sunrise.

The mulank (birth day number) is the day of birth, added down to one digit. The 1st, 10th, 19th and 28th all give 1, as in Cheiro's Book of Numbers (1926). The life path reduces the month, the day and the year one by one, then adds them. The same steps appear in L. Dow Balliett's The Philosophy of Numbers (1908).

Routes about a time, such as the personal year, take as_of (a date), month (YYYY-MM) or year. Leave it out to use today. A personal year runs from January 1.

The Lo Shu grid

The Lo Shu grid is a 3 by 3 square of the numbers 1 to 9. The API fills it with the digits of the birth date and the bhagyank. When the day has two digits, it adds the mulank too. A number that appears twice is shown twice. A line of the grid is read only when it is full or empty.

The Lo Shu square holds the numbers 1 to 9 once each. Every line adds to 15, as shown by Wolfram MathWorld. Each row, column and main diagonal of a 3 by 3 magic square adds to 15. See Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Mobile, vehicle and house numbers

Only digits count. Spaces and dashes are fine. Letters in a vehicle or house number are not counted, because books disagree on whether they count. The answer lists them in ignored_letters. The number check endpoints show a real answer, and how to add up a phone number walks through the math.

Language and length

Every route takes lang: en (English) or hi (Hindi). Codes and keys stay in English in every language, and names for the reader sit beside them in *_name fields.

Every route also takes detail. Use standard for short text that fits an app card, or expanded for longer text to read in full. The report uses expanded unless you ask for standard. The language and the length never change the price.