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In short
A digit sum, or digit reduction, adds the digits of a number and repeats until one digit from 1 to 9 is left. In this app it is the step behind almost every numerology number. By default the loop stops early at 11, 22 or 33, the master numbers, but some calculations switch that off and always reduce to one digit.
What the term means
A digit sum takes a number, adds its digits together, and repeats until a single digit is left. The birth year 1988 becomes 1 + 9 + 8 + 8 = 26, then 2 + 6 = 8. Numerology calls the result the root of the number. Almost every number on this site, from the Mulank to the name numbers, is the end of a digit sum.
Where the term comes from
The reduction is the shared arithmetic of the numerology books in the corpus rather than a named doctrine. Numerology Made Easy, in its name-number steps, tells the reader to keep summing until a single digit remains, "unless the total is equal to eleven or twenty-two", and works 38 down to 11. The AIFAS course notes reduce the month, day and year of a birth date to single digits before combining them. The books differ on which totals to stop at, not on the method.
How this app computes it
- One function does the work: it adds the digits of the number while the number is above 9. By default it stops early at 11, 22 or 33, so 29 gives 11. With master-keeping switched off, the same 29 goes on to 2.
- The Bhagyank and the name numbers keep masters. The Mulank, the Personal Year, Month and Day, the Kua year digit and the challenge roots always reduce to one digit.
- A second version of the loop also notes whether it passed through 13, 14, 16 or 19 on the way down, which is how a karmic debt number is flagged.
A small illustration
Run on the engine, 1988 reduces to 8 and 47 reduces to 11, which is kept. The same 29 gives 11 with masters kept and 2 without, which is why a birth on the 29th has a Mulank of 2.
Pages that use this term
- Mulank, Bhagyank and Life Path - the two date reductions side by side.
- Master number 11 - why the loop stops at 11.
- Number 8 in numerology - one of the pages that read each reduced digit.
- Life Path calculator - both date reductions from a birth date.
- Numerology feature - where the reduced numbers are read together.
Related terms
- Master number - the totals the loop may keep.
- Compound number - the two-digit total before reduction.
- Mulank - the day of birth, reduced.
- Life Path number - the whole date, reduced.