Jack raised his hand. "Erm...PROFESSOR, I do believe that the Bridge Number for the Life Path and Expression numbers is found by finding the difference between the two numbers. You don't want a negative though, so I'm pretty sure you'd put the higher number first, regardless of whether it is your Life Path or Expression number--right?" he asked.

Torin raised his hand. "The Life Path and Destiny Bridge is calculated by subtracting one from the other. So for instance if your Life Path number was 5 and your Destiny Number was 2, you would subtract 2 from 5 and get the Bridge of 3." He hoped that made sense.

Uh hu. If Anna liked her the way she explained her answer, then where was her chocolate frog? Hmmm? Frowning slightly, Reese started pushing the empty chocolate frog box around in circles on her desk. Anna probably wasn't going to give out anymore chocolate frogs since she had hit Professor Shackleton in the head.

She looked up from her empty chocolate frog box once Anna asked another question. Without hesitation, she opened her textbook open and skimmed through the pages trying to find the answer to the question. Oh. Oh. OHHH! She found the answer. She placed her right hand on the page the answer was one and raised her left hand. "The Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge are calculated by finding the, umm..." She quickly glanced back down at her book. "By finding the difference between the two core numbers they represent," she answered.

...and it was Jack, Torin, and Reese once again. Those three were definitely on a roll today. Had Cale been here, he'd been on a roll today, too...just for her. She blinked a few times and swallowed, getting a little sad just thinking along those lines. Now was not the time for such, though...she was teaching a class, for Merlin's sake! "Thank you...thank you, and thank you," she said, turning to the three who'd answered. "We'll come back to those wonderful answers in just a moment, but perhaps one of your other classmates would care to give it a shot, too? The Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge...how do we calculate that?" she asked again.

OOC: Reference material Class will break for the night at this point. I'll resume it at some point tomorrow morning.

Paris had been totally distracted by the diamonds in the room she had missed like half of the lesson. She snapped out of her diamond daydream and looked over at Anna her eyes still glazed over.

She raised her hand. "To find your life path number you add together the month, day, and year you were born using the addition method of reducing first, then adding together." she had no idea what the other half of what Anna said meant. She was lucky she could say that without confusing herself.

Abby raises her hand. "The Life Path/Expression Bridge Number is the difference between the Life Path Core Number and the expression Core Number.To determine the Life Path/Expression number, you need to take the person's Life Path Number and subtract it from his/her Expression Number or vice versus depending on what the numbers are. My Life Path Number is 1, and my Expression Number is 2. In that case I would subtract my Expression Number from my Life Path Number (2-1=1). My Life Path/Expression Bridge number is 1."

"That's exactly right, Jack, Torin, Reese, and Abby. We calculate the Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge by first calculating our Life Path number and our Expression/Destiny number separately. Once that's done, we find the difference between those numbers," she recalled. "That difference is our actual Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge number. Let's remember that when dealing with numbers, the word difference means, as Torin explains, to subtract."

"I'm glad Jack brought up the negative number issue, too, as there are no negative numbers in Arithmancy. You'd do just as Jack suggested---switch the numbers around so that the larger number is always first, and the smaller number is always second," she continued. "That is, though, if you actually need to switch in the first place. If your larger number is already first, then you'd leave the numbers as is."

Blink.

Daydreaming---no doubt still hung up on those diamonds she'd seen in the beginning of class. Anna frowned at her friend and then softly laughed it off. At least she'd accurately explained the method in which to find a Life Path number. "Thank you, Paris. That is the correct way to calculate a Life Path number. However, you'll do well to remember that it's also the first step in finding your Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge," she explained.


"Now, class, the neat part about both types of bridge numbers is that they are calculated exactly the same. The only difference is that with the Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge, you use your Life Path number and your Expression/Destiny number," she recalled. "Then, of course, with the Heart's Desire/Soul Urge and Personality Bridge, you'd use those two numbers."

"What I'd like for you to do now is to calculate one or the other. You may calculate your Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge or your Heart's Desire/Soul Urge and Personality Bridge. For now, all you'll need to arrive at is the actual bridge number. We'll discuss what those numbers mean in just a moment. Go ahead and get started, and if you have any questions, just raise your hand," she finished.

As her classmates set to work, Anna waved her wand and added additional information to the board in the front of the room:

To calculate your Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge:
- Calculate your Life Path number
- Calculate your Expression/Destiny number
- Subtract one from the other (making sure the larger number is first)


To calculate your Heart's Desire/Soul Urge and Personality Bridge:
- Calculate your Heart's Desire/Soul Urge number
- Calculate your Personality number
- Subtract one from the other (making sure the larger number is first)

Jack felt like groaning. He didn't have any of his numbers written down, which meant he'd have to recalculate it ALL. Groan. He pulled out his parchement and a quill--which one should he do first?

Hearts Desire/Personality bridge seemed really intriguing. That sounded like a good one to start with.

Quote:

Hearts Desire:
J A C K T Y L E R F R I T Z E R A
(1+1+3+2) + (2+7+3+5+9) + (6+9+9+2+8+5+9+1)
1+5+(9+5+1)
1+5+(1+5)
1+5+6=12
1+2=3

Hearts Desire Number: 3


Personality Number:
J A C K T Y L E R F R I T Z E R A
(1+1+3+2) + (2+7+3+5+9) + (6+9+9+2+8+5+9+1)
(1+3+2)+(2+7+3+9)+(6+9+2+8+9)
6+(2+1)+(3+4)
6+3+7 = 16
1+6=7

Personality Number: 7

Bridge: 7-3=4

Professor Shackleton was quite pleased and impressed with Anna's organization and instruction of this part of the lesson. She clearly explained the topic and asked insightful questions of the other students.

Following Anna's request of the students, Macadrian played along and calculated one of her own Bridge Numbers.

Quote:

Life Path Number
11 + 22 + 2028
2 + 4 + 12
2 + 4 + 3 = 9

Expression/Destiny Number
MACADRIAN = 4+1+3+1+4+9+9+1+5 = 37 = 10 = 1
ASHLING = 1+1+8+3+9+5+7 = 34 = 7
SHACKLETON = 1+8+1+3+2+3+5+2+6+5 = 36 = 9

1+7+9 = 17/8


LP/Exp Bridge
9-8 = 1

Reese pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill from her bag. She wasn't good at calculations, but here goes nothing:

Ugh. She could NOT count today. She went back and made sure all her calculations were right before she sat her quill down.

Torin sighed as she asked him to calculate one of his Bridge Numbers. Typically, he didn't remember what his Life Path or Destiny Numbers were.

So he had to redo all the calculations.

Life Path Number:

5 + 23 + 2054 => 5 + (2 + 3) + (2 + 0 + 5 + 4)
= 5 + (5) + (11) => 5 + (5) + (2)
= 12 => 1 + 2
= 3

Expression/Destiny Number:

TORIN
26995

2 + 6 + 9 + 9 + 5
= 31 => 3 + 1
= 4

KRISTOPHER
2991267859

2 + 9 + 9 + 1 + 2 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 5 + 9
= 58 => 5 + 8
= 13 => 1 + 3
= 4

KANE
2155

2 + 1 + 5 + 5
= 13 => 1 + 3
= 4


4 + 4 + 4
= 12 => 1 + 2
= 3

Destiny and Life Path Number Bridge:

3 - 3 = 0

Anna continued circulating the room, checking her classmate's work and being on hand in case there were any questions. So far, though, there were none. It appeared her classmates were doing quite well on their calculations, too, as she didn't seem to catch any errors offhand. "Very good, class. Continue working, and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask," she said. "If you haven't started your calculations yet, go ahead and do so now. We'll move on to looking at what our bridge numbers mean in just a moment." She smiled at Professor Shackleton, delighted to see that she, too, was participating. "Any questions, young lady?" she asked her, playing along with the fact that they'd more or less switched roles for now.

"If you happen to get the number zero as either of your bridge numbers, which I see at least one of you has, you'll want to remember that the textbook provides different interpretations depending on which bridge number you were calculating. There's one interpretation for the Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge, and another for the Heart's Desire/Soul Urge and Personality Bridge," she continued. "There are also addition notes to keep in mind for those of you arriving at a five, six, or seven as your bridge number."

Abby calculates her numbers.

CHris Potter beamed at Anna as she was conducting the class so well. He flashed a thumbs up to her and got to work.

He decided to do the Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge.

After he finished he waited for Anna or Professor Shackleton to continue the lesson.

Now that he had nothing to do, Torin decided that he would work on his Heart's Desire/Personality Number Bridge.

Heart's Desire Number:

TORIN
69

6 + 9
= 15 => 1 + 5
= 6

KRISTOPHER
965

9 + 6 + 5
= 20 => 2 + 0
= 2

KANE
15

1 + 5
= 6


6 + 2 + 6
= 14 => 1 + 4
= 5

Personality Number:

TORIN
295

2 + 9 + 5
= 16 => 1 + 6
= 7

KRISTOPHER
2912789

2 + 9 + 1 + 2 + 7 + 8 + 9
= 38 => 3 + 8
= 11 => 1 + 1
= 2

KANE
25

2 + 5
= 7


7 + 2 + 7
= 16 => 1 + 6
= 7


Heart's Desire/Personality Bridge:

7 - 5
= 2

Anna made one additional loop around the classroom, then returned to the front. She was quite pleased with how quickly her classmates had caught on to the concept of bridge numbers. "Go head and quickly finish up if you're not quite done, but in the meantime, if you are done, I'd like you to read the information your textbook gives you about the bridge number you've arrived at. Remember that the textbook provides different interpretations of the number zero depending on which bridge number you were calculating. There's one interpretation for the Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge, and another for the Heart's Desire/Soul Urge and Personality Bridge," she recalled. "There are also addition notes to keep in mind for those of you arriving at a five, six, or seven as your bridge number."

"Once you've read the information about your bridge number, I'd like for you to raise your hand and summarize, in your own words, what that number means in regards to your own life. Remember to let us know whether or not this is your Life Path and Expression/Destiny Number or if it's your Heart's Desire/Soul Urge and Personality Number," she said. "Share your thoughts on whether or not your believe this interpretation to be one that truly represents you, or if the number is one you can utilize at some point in your life."

Torin raised his hand and said, "Well, I calculated both Bridge Numbers 'cause I was curious.." He glanced down at his textbook. "My Life Path/Destiny Bridge is Zero. That means that I have a good opportunity in following with the meaning behind the repeated number... which in my case is 3. So I have a good opportunity with all the things expressed by the number 3," he guessed. "And my Heart's Desire/Personality Bridge is 2. That means that it would be a good idea for me to work on my receptiveness, as well as my ability to sense other people's needs and expectations. And not only that, but co-operating and understanding them as well. I must also try to keep confrontations non-existent through diplomacy."

Reese looks down at her open textbook, but it wasn't on the right page. She flipped through the pages until she came across the one about Bridge Numbers. She began to read what her Bridge was.

Huuuuuuuuh? Procrastinator? That was defiantly...right.

She finished reading and looked up at Anna. Did she really want to announce to the whole class that she was a procrastinator? She glanced back down at her textbook for a few more seconds, then rasied her hand. "Okay, here goes mine. I calculated my Life Path and Expression/Destiny Number. And, it pretty much says I'm a procrastinator. And, it's telling me I need to stop being one. That I need to focus my energy on practical approaches so I can avoid chaos in life.Also, I need to get to know my true self by doing outdoor activities," she told the class and Anna. She closed her textbook and looked back at Anna.

"I am a procrastinator," she simply stated. "I do believe that I need to stop being on and I do need to focus my energy and stuff, so my life won't be chaotic later on." Once she finished answering, she started pushing the empty chocolate frog box around on her desk in circles like she did before.

Chris, after finishing his calculations, opened his book to read what his Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge number said about him.

'Hmmmm.....diplomatic ways, keeping the peace, and remaining rock-steady.'

Chris raised his hand kind of excited. He thought his number 2 bridge number suited him. "Um I did my Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge Number, and I got the number 2. It says here that people with this number need to try and use their good receptiveness of others to help them and be understanding. We should try to keep things peaceful and prevent arguements."

Daniel opened his bag and grabbed a parchment an scribbled something.



And then he heard Anna say the they needed to interpret the meaning of the numbers in our own words.

He then flipped the textbook and looked for the meaning of the numbers.

He then raised his hand ans said, "Anna... eeerrggh... Professor, my Life Path and Expression/Destiny Bridge Number cautions me to being a procrastinator. It also say that I need to go back to my roots by going to the basics and knowing myself through different physical activities." he then paused and said, "My Heart Desire/Soul Urge and Personality Bridge Number is 5, that is a combination of 7 and 2 which we know as the analytical power and intuition, which suggests that I can be potentially gifted eventhough I have a disharmonious life due to the fact that I am seeking attention and love and I also need my privacy." he cleared his throat and said, "Now that I have think about it, I am always struggling between my privacy and gaining love and attention since the demise of my parents. And the numbers suggests that I resolve that conflict."

"Oh, excellent, Torin! Zero as a bridge number...I was hoping someone would arrive at that number, so we could touch on what it means," Anna replied. "As Torin said, a zero as a bridge number provides a good opportunity to follow with the meaning behind a repeated number, which was, in his case, the number three. The interpretation is also somewhat different if you end up with two zeroes, though---one for each bridge number. Your textbook has an excellent follow-up on that, if any of you are interesting in checking that information for future reference."

Anna sort of giggled a little as Reese discussed the fact that she was, according to her bridge number, a procrastinator. Her friend spoke as if she were thoroughly displeased with her results, and Anna found the manner in which she spoke of it quite amusing. "What I think you need to keep in mind, though, Reese, is that the meaning of each number is simply a guide, not necessarily hardcore truth. You may be a procrastinator, you may not be, but I think you need to leave a little room open for your own judgment, as well," she explained. "Are you a procrastinator? If not, then look towards the meaning of your bridge number as simply a warning as to what to could happen instead. Just simply remember to be aware of that fact."

"Traits of a prefect, wouldn't you agree, Chris? I'd say that description is pretty much an accurate one of you," Anna replied. "Well done, Chris. Thank you." Anna briefly wondered if she'd be the one to end up with a number two as a bridge number, as well. She sort of thought those descriptions might apply to her, as well as to Chris. Hmm...she'd calculated it earlier and jotted it down in her notes...now where was that number?

Anna laughed lightly as Daniel referred to her as 'Professor'. She and her friends were having such a good time with this lesson. Professor Shackleton appeared to be doing quite with it well herself. "Very good, Daniel. I'm glad you remembered to check the number combinations for the bridge number five, too," she said. "I'm very sorry to hear of your parents, but I am glad to see you've been able to find personal meaning in the number you've arrived at. Now that you're aware of that fact, you can use it as a guide in your life."

"Professor Shackleton, I believe we've reached the part of the lesson where rational numbers come into play," she announced.

Chris beamed at Anna. She had just complimented his character emensly. "Thanks Anna, and those are great qualities to have as a Prefect, like me and yourself." he grinned again.

He then watched as Anna said something to Professor Shakleton. Was Anna finished teaching her part or just waiting for the signal to go on?

Water began seeping through the floor and starting to flood the arithmancy class.

Jack noticed the water seeping in and yelled, 'The water is here. The Merpeople are coming. We'd better make a run for it!'

Blink.

All thoughts of a possible lesson on rational numbers were now gone, replaced by the realization that the second floor of the castle was now beginning to flood. "Oh, erm...we need to get out...really, really quickly," Anna said, as if that weren't obvious by the sight of water now seeping through the floor. She'd been through enough of these floods to realize that waiting around to see what would happen next was surely not an option. "You're right, Jack! Let's go!" Anna turned and motioned for her classmates to follow suit and leave the room and the second floor immediately. "Up to the third floor we go...and quickly! This flood doesn't waste any time!" She dashed to the door, then turned around to make sure she wasn't still needed for anything in the room. Seeing that she wasn't, Anna dashed out the door and into the corridor.