Lesson Four
Welcome to Lesson Four!
It's been fun having everyone in class and we've learned quite a bit! This lesson is going to be a bit lighter. Let's talk about Arithmancy at Hogwarts and some famous Arithmancers - people who study Arithmancy.
Arithmancy at Hogwarts
Once you hit your third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry you can choose which electives you'd like to take. Depending on what you want to do when you graduate, some people choose their electives off of what they are interested in. You can take at least two classes as electives. Arithmancy is one of the options for electives that you can take. It teaches students the basics of Arithmancy and how to find numbers and what they mean. However, this is still a very difficult class. If you did really well in Arithmancy and wanted to continue, you could do so in Advanced Arithmancy Studies. Arithmancy homework consisted of essays and the use of complicated number charts.
Arithmancy, obviously a very math-heavy subject is an important thing to learn as you learn not only a bit about Divination (since they're closely related), but also about mathematics. Hogwarts does not offer any mathematics classes to muggle's surprise as that is a primary subject in all muggle schools. So, what career would require Arithmancy? Curse Breaker. In order to be a Curse Breaker and work at Gringotts, you have to have an OWL in Arithmancy. This is required because a lot of banking and various money transactions are done at Gringotts of course, so a working knowledge of mathematics and how to count out money is required.
Notable Arithmancers
Septima Vector was a British witch who taught Arithmancy and Advanced Arithmancy Studies at Hogwarts. She attended Hogwarts and excelled in Arithmancy that years after she graduated, she came back to teach the subject. Many students said that she was incredibly strict and she gave a lot of difficult homework which discouraged many people from taking her classes. It is presumed that she fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. She was also known for being very talented in Charms as well as Arithmancy.
Bridget Wenlock lived in the thirteenth century and was a famous Arithmancer. She established the magical properties of the number 7. She was a rather secretive witch and preferred not to share most of her finding, hence why she wrote most of them down in invisible ink. She attended Hogwarts where she was sorted into Hufflepuff. She became a very accomplished Arithmancer. When she passed away, at the age of 83, a chocolate frog card was dedicated to her with Arithmancy listed as one of her accomplishments.
7
The number seven is considered to be a magical number. It was discovered by Bridget Wenlock. She wrote the famous theorem that supported the magical properties of the number seven. 7 appears multiple times throughout the magical world in many forms. There are 7 players on each Quidditch team, the Cleansweep Seven, there are 7 core classes at Hogwarts, there are 7 secret passages out of the castle shown on the Marauders Map, people go to Hogwarts for 7 years, there are 7 different types of spells. As you can see, the number 7 shows up numerous times in random places. Wenlock also saw the number seven in the world and drawing from mythology, math, and science concluded the number had magical elements to it.
Other Magical Numbers
However, 7 is not the only magical number that exists. There are many numbers that people believe to be magical. These numbers vary among cultures. For instance, the number 8 is considered to be a lucky number in China. The number 17 was considered to be an unlucky number by the Ancient Egyptians. In Hinduism, 108 is a sacred number. In many cultures, 40 is the number of death.