In Indian numerology, for example, everyone has three relevant numbers that explain
and predict human behavior: psychic, destiny, and name numbers—and they mean
something different to each person. In Norse numerology, three, nine, and multiples
of three and nine are magically potent. For example, the number nine is significant in
Norse magical practice and often points to Odin. Considered the supreme god in Ger-
386 manic and Norse mythology, Odin, legend says, hung himself from a tree for nine days
What is the “beast number”?
T
he so-called “beast number” is 666, a number that is mentioned in Revela-
tions 13:18: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the
number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666.” It is
also thought of as the number of the Antichrist.There are other related numbers that have gained “cult” aspects, too. For
example, a number having exactly 666 digits is called an apocalypse number. A
number of the form 2nthat contains the digits 666—in other words, powers of 2
that contain three consecutive sixes in the decimal representation—is called an
apocalyptic number; 2^157 is one such number (it equals 182,687,704,666,362,
864,775,460,604,089,535,377,456,991,567,872). The first few such powers are
157, 192, 218, 220, and so on.There are also some interesting mathematical characteristics of the beast
number that mathematicians have found as they played with numbers. For
example, the beast number is:- equal to the sum of the squares of the first seven primes: or 2^2 ^32 ^52
72 112 132 172 666 - it’s a sum and difference of the first three 6th powers: 1^6 ^26 ^36 ^666
- There are exactly two ways to insert “” signs into the sequence of
123456789 to make the sum 666, and exactly one way for the sequence
987654321:
1 2 3 4 567 89 666
123 456 78 9 666
9 87 6 543 21 666 - Even more amazing is that the Dewey Decimal System classification num-
ber used in libraries for “Numerology” is 133.335; reverse the number and
add to get 133.335 533.331 666.666 - And, just as weird, if you write the first six Roman numerals, in order from
largest to smallest, you get 666: DCLXVI 666.