Main Index Number Theory Arithmetics Numeral systems Non-positional numeral systems
 Subject Index
comment on the page

Hebrew numerals

The Hebrew alphabet is often called the alefbet,  because of its first two letters  ( ):

Note that some letters have two versions. The letters Kaf, Mem, Nun, Pe and Tzade are written differently when they appear at the end of a word (the so called litterae finales). This version used at the end of a word is referred to as Final Kaf, Final Mem, etc (the versions of the letters on the left is the final version). In all cases except Final Mem, the final version has a long tail.

The system of numerals in Hebrew forms a quasi-decimal alphabetic numeral system using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In Hebrew notation, there is no notation for zero, and the numeric values for individual letters are added together. Each unit (1, 2, ..., 9) is assigned a separate letter, each tens (10, 20, ..., 90) a separate letter, and the hundreds 100, 200, 300, 400 a separate letter. This double meaning of letters gave rise to the gematria ¹ in which these transformations are extensively used (cf. also Wortrechnung ).

The numbers 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 are written in the same spirit 500 is written as תק, and 600 is written as תר, etc. This is also used on Jewish tombstones: the year 5767 (=2006-2007) is written תשסז, i.e. , while 5000 is tacitly assumed (if you subtract 1240 from the Christian style you get this short Hebrew style; note however that the Hebrew year starts in September).   

The only significant exception are the numbers 15 and 16, which  by convention  are represented by טו and טז, i.e. and , resp. This is done in order to avoid the two-letter combinations  Yod-He and Yod-Vav which are alternate written forms for the Name of G-d.

The Abjad numerals are equivalent to the Hebrew numerals up to 400. The Greek numerals differ from the Hebrew ones from 90 upwards because the Greek alphabet does not have an equivalent for Tzade.

Notes

Cite this web-page as: