Gematria Methods Explained

Hebrew Standard (Mispar Hechrachi)

Hebrew Standard, also called Mispar Hechrachi ("absolute value"), is the traditional Jewish gematria system and the one referenced throughout the Talmud, Midrash and Kabbalistic literature. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, and each is assigned a fixed numeral value: the first nine letters count 1 through 9, the next nine count 10 through 90 in tens, and the final four count 100 through 400 in hundreds.

The five letters with a final form (ך ם ן ף ץ, used when the letter falls at the end of a word) carry the same value as their regular form in this calculator: that is the Mispar Hechrachi convention. A separate, less common system called Mispar Gadol instead gives final letters their own higher values (500 through 900); this calculator does not implement that variant.

Worked example: שלום ("shalom", peace) = 300 + 30 + 6 + 40 = 376. Try typing it into the calculator with Hebrew Standard selected.

English Ordinal

English Ordinal is the simplest and most widely used English cipher: each letter's value is just its position in the alphabet, A=1 through Z=26. It is the reference system most general-purpose gematria calculators default to for English text.

Worked example: "truth" = T(20) + R(18) + U(21) + T(20) + H(8) = 87.

English Reduction

English Reduction takes the same alphabet position as Ordinal, but reduces every value to a single digit from 1 to 9 in a repeating cycle: A through I count 1 to 9, then J through R repeat 1 to 9, then S through Z repeat 1 to 8. It is popular in Pythagorean-style numerology, where single digits are treated as "core" values.

Worked example: "truth" in Reduction = T(2) + R(9) + U(3) + T(2) + H(8) = 24: a much smaller number than the same word's Ordinal total (87), because every letter has been collapsed to a single digit before adding.

English Sumerian (English Extended)

English Sumerian, sometimes called English Extended, multiplies each letter's Ordinal value by six: A=6, B=12, up through Z=156. The factor of six is a modern reference to the ancient Sumerian sexagesimal (base-60) number system: the same base-60 tradition responsible for 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 degrees in a circle. Because every value is exactly six times its Ordinal counterpart, a word's Sumerian total is always exactly six times its Ordinal total, which makes the two easy to cross-check against each other.

Worked example: "truth" in Sumerian = 87 × 6 = 522: exactly six times the Ordinal total of 87.

Choosing between the four methods

There is no wrong choice: the four ciphers answer different questions. Use Hebrew Standard if you are working with Hebrew text or studying traditional Jewish/biblical gematria. Use English Ordinal as your default for English words, since it is the most common and easiest reference system to double-check by hand. Use Reduction if you are working within a numerology tradition that favors single-digit "core numbers." Use Sumerian if you want the alternate base-60-inspired scale, or if you specifically want a value you can cross-check against Ordinal (it will always be exactly six times larger). For worked examples of these tables applied to real biblical Hebrew words and well-known English words, see the famous words and names page.

• Hebrew Standard: the historically authentic system for Hebrew words, names and biblical text.
• English Ordinal: the standard, most widely recognized English cipher (A=1...Z=26).
• English Reduction: collapses every letter to a single digit 1-9, popular in Pythagorean numerology.
• English Sumerian: Ordinal x6, referencing the ancient Sumerian base-60 counting tradition.