Still a bit hesitant but resolute to ask and have her doubt cleared up before they would go on, Nadia raised her hand again. "Professor, I would like to ask something. You previously said the wand core and material made the two component of the wand, when giving an example of the properties of said number. But, wouldn't the lenghts of the wand count for anything? And if so, it should be more an example of the three number?"

"Sure, the lenght isn't a material component," she hastly added, feeling hot all around her face, "but it is somewhat of an important characteristic, I mean to say... well, the lenght is a number, and it would also have some significance, of course, that's what we are learning here, the importance of numbers, no?"

Oh dear, she had completely mixed the tense and surely messed up. Guess the growing reputation of the professor was doing something for her nerves. She bit her lip.

Professor Fox smiled lightly, "Yes Ms. Black, exactly. We do use arithmancy in our everyday magic. From the simple levitation spells to the 'sideways-walking jynxes' that were quite popular when I was a student, arithmantic properties and prime properties go into each and every spell and magic you young witches use. Thus, an understanding of Arithmancy and how the numbers relate to one another, and the limits and benefits and draw backs of each number go a long way in understanding and formulating magic." He nodded and continued, "That however will be developed in later classes and can get rather complicated, so it is not something one simply looks up. Any other questions or comments?"

Lily copied the information down as quick as she could then leaned back in her chair exhausted.

Selena leaned back in her chair and just jotted down a few notes here and there.

Nadia nodded and took some notes, quite interested now the subject about demoniac powers of te number 3 was broughts and the house elves and triagle. Actually, it all was quite interesting. Not to mention she was relieved she hadn't make a complete mess to the point of making an unanswerable question.

"Well," Nadia said, popping in again and raising her hand, "I would also like to know why the 3 it is "often associated more with 'thought' and less with 'reality' ". I do have a theory, like with muggle thought: we need something, the opposite of that something and the result of the existance of said oppossites. Hence the problem-solving thing. Oh and I do too want to ask how the number 3 can be applied in astronomy."

"So 5 means strong magic?"Lily asked weakly.

"No Ms. Black, it is simply associated with the physical world. I can understand where you might get confused though. Are there any other questions?" He asked, watching the students.

Professor Fox nodded and walked over to a blank area of the board, drawing a rather poor cartoonish represntaiton of phoenix, or more correctly some sort of ball with lines coming out of it and what looked like flames around it. "An excellent question Ms. Arbon, phoenixes are rather complicated creatures," he said as he began drawing five points around the phoenix, "As five is a representative of the physical nature of the world, you will find that the Chinese wizard first developed this idea, phoenixes are the very embodiment of the physical world you see." He continued drawing a number of esoteric, meaningless symbols around the 'phoenix', "Now, phoenixes, unlike other creatures do not die. They burn up, then are reborn from the ashes, moving in a continuous cycle and are forever physical. While this is not to say that they don't have non-physical aspects, of course they do, they simply have such a strong connection to the physical world, that they are indeed, an eternal part of it, only leaving it once they wish." He turned and looked at Erica, "Hence it is not the 'safety' or 'complementary' aspect of the number that they associate with, but the 'physical' aspect they more than other creatures associate with. Does that answer your question?"

Professor Fox hurriedly added, "However, I must confess Ms. Arbon, I am largely only trained to make assertions about the theoretical workings of being and creature magic and how it ocmpares to numbers. I've never been terribly good at the actual handling or care of said creatures."

Lily wrote as the Professor spoke.Tryin to stay focused but what ever illness she had was makin it very hard.

"Well it's the most magical number" Adz started, thinking carefully. "Also the date of my birthday..." Adz giggled under her breath to her neighbour, giggling

Rosa raised her hand. 'well... it's a prime number. and a quite important one, for instance, the week has 7 days.'

Martha's hand begins to cramp as she takes notes from Professor Fox's lecture. She would definitely need to review the material thoroughly before understanding it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by parchment Name: Astoria Carmen Delatoure' Fletcher House: Slytherin Year: 5

Astoria had been quiet the entire time in the classroom. She didn't make the best impression on Professor Fox and she felt that it was time to redeem herself. She stayed quiet and took notes. Her hand was starting to cramp a bit, but she kept writing her notes down to show she was actually interesting in Arithmancy, which she kind of was.

Nadia raised her hand, "The numeral seven is considered the most mystical of all numbers, and that might be because it is the one number which cannot be divided evenly into the circle (360). If you try said division with every other number even number, you get an even number, while if you devide it with 7 you get," Nadia tried to recall and said, "the number 51.428571.

"The dividend from the division of the circle by the number seven is intriguingly close to the outer angle of the Great Pyramid: 51 degrees and 51 minutes."

"Also," she continued, "it's related to the mystical nature of Pi: The number 22 is considered symbolic of a complete circle, or the circle, because this is reflected by the twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the twenty-two keys in the Major Arcana of the Tarot (Keys 1 - 21, plus the Fool) and indicating the full circle of experience. The function 22/7, one cycle of human experience divided by the spiritual Seven or Divinity within. This function is the value of Pi; or, the closet to it as can be expressed in whole digits."

Sara jotted down the notes very quickly. Arithmancy was such an amazing and complicated subject and she really liked it. She nodded at the all of the answers to questions. She didn't want to miss a thing. She was about to raise her hand when she realized that her answer had already been told. The number 7 is a prime number so it is magical and it's the number of days in a week.

Sara then raised her hand very tentatively for a question had just popped into her mind. "Professor, was the number 7 chosen to mark a week because of how magical? I don't quite understand."