Digits and destiny: why people around the world pay so much attention to numbers.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: CULTURE

Admit it: When Friday the 13th rolls around, you're just a bit more careful, crossing the street or stepping onto an escalator--even if you don't consider yourself superstitious.

In fact, numerology--the belief that certain numbers have larger meanings and can be lucky or unlucky--is widespread in many cultures and a thriving business in countries like China and India.

In China, many builders use numbering systems that "leave out" floors considered unlucky, like those containing a 4 (see chart). As a result, the top floor of one 46-story building in Hong Kong was marketed as the 88th floor--a particularly auspicious number--which increased the apartments' market value, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The practice is so rampant that the government of Hong Kong recently enacted guidelines to keep things from getting out of hand.

"When you say you rive on the 88th floor, people expect you to be on the 88th floor, not the 10th floor," Emily Law told The Journal.

In India, people have tong sought guidance from various kinds of astrologers and gurus. Today, many Indians are turning to numerologists.

In Mumbai, Sanjay Jumaani has a thriving numerology business. For $90 (a month's pay for a household servant), Jumaani studies a client's birth date and other important numbers. Then he suggests changes--like adding or deleting a letter to change the numerology of a name--that he says will improve their fortunes.

Jumaani says people's personalities and destinies are both shaped by the interplay of numbers. Among the most important, he says, are numbers derived from birth dates, like the sum of the digits.

So why do people put so much stock in this kind of thinking?

"A lot of it has to do with trying to take some kind of control, over a situation," says Lou Manza, a professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College...