Why is the number 7 lucky?

[bexbex78]

Why is the number 7 often signified with luck? This is something I have recently thought about, and I am baffled as to where to myth comes from...

[Clanad]

There are a number (sorry) of reasons... some lost in the mists of time and some more reasonable as an explanation... here are a few:
Number seven, a very cabalistic and used number thru history, is considered lucky among other reasons for being the number of perfection.

God, the Bible says, created the Universe in 7 days. Thus 6 is the imperfect number, this is why 666 is the number of Satan or the Beast.

On dices, where seven is a winning number, to get a 7 you need one dice on 6 and a 1 on the opposite side on the other dice. All opposite side numbers adds to 7.
Pythagoreans called it the perfect number, 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, the perfect figures.

Seven ancient planets - the sun was the greatest planet of the ancient seven and next to the sun, the moon, changing in all its splendour every seventh day. Seven visible planets and luminaries (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). (Thanks to Superstitions)...

[bexbex78]

Thanks for the answer Clanad...I shall be using the number 7 in all of my next lottery tickets!

[gammaray]

Oddly enough, according to Camelot statistics the number 7 is not in the top 20 of most drawn numbers drawn numbers.

[pugwashjw]

It comes from the Bible.

Seven. Seven is used frequently in the Scriptures to signify completeness. At times it has reference to bringing a work toward completion. Or it can refer to the complete cycle of things as established or allowed by God. By completing his work toward the earth in six creative days and resting on the seventh day, Jehovah set the pattern for the whole Sabbath arrangement, from the seven-day week to the Jubilee year that followed the seven-times-seven�year cycle. (Ex 20:10; Le 25:2, 6, 8) The Festival of Unleavened Bread and the Festival of Booths were each seven days long. (Ex 34:18; Le 23:34) Seven appears often in connection with the Levitical rules for offerings (Le 4:6; 16:14, 19; Nu 28:11) and for cleansings.�Le 14:7, 8, 16, 27, 51; 2Ki 5:10.

The �seven congregations� of Revelation, with their characteristics, give a complete picture of all the congregations of God on earth.�Re 1:20�3:22.

The �seven heads� of the �wild beast� (Re 13:1) show the limit to which the beast would be allowed to develop. Although the �scarlet-colored wild beast� is called �an eighth� king, it springs from the seven and does not exist apart from the seven-headed wild beast (Re 17:3, 9-11), as is true also of the �image� of �the wild beast.� (Re 13:14) Similarly, the two-horned �wild beast� is actually coexistent with the original �wild beast� whose �mark� it tries to put on all persons.�Re 13:11, 16, 17.

[Canib]

It goes back to the roman empire when dice were becoming a popular game. The romans thought that the chances of rolling numbers were like this:

2 can be rolled 1 way: 1, 1
3 can be rolled 1 way: 1, 2
etc.

6 can be rolled 3 ways: 1, 5; 2, 4; 3, 3
7 can be rolled 3 ways: 1, 6; 2, 5; 3, 4
8 can be rolled 3 ways: 2, 6; 3, 5; 4, 4

etc.

They were wrong. The actual chances are like this:

6:
1, 5; 2, 4; 3, 3; 4, 2; 5, 1 for 5 different ways

7:
1, 6; 2, 5; 3, 4; 4, 3; 5, 2; 6, 1 for 6 different ways

8:
2, 6; 3, 5; 4, 4; 5, 3; 6, 2 for 5 different ways

etc.

Well, when 7 came up more often than they thought possible, they assumed that the number was intrinsically "lucky." Actually, they just sucked at statistics.

[ajaybhardwaj]

We have a heptagon as one of our winning logo images because seven is the lucky winning number in some traditional games of chance. We like the septilateral shape and, just for fun, have gone heptamerous in our design. Win one of our main prizes and you will be in seventh heaven!

Why is seven lucky? We are not entirely certain - but we did find many special sevens : from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ... to seven days of the week.

Seven more sevens:
� Pythagoreans called it the perfect number, 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, the perfect figures.

� Seven ancient planets - the sun was the greatest planet of the ancient seven and next to the sun, the moon, changing in all its splendour every seventh day. Seven visible planets and luminaries (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).

� Books ...The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T E Lawrence, Enid Blyton's Secret Seven series ... Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ... Reiki and the Seven Chakras ...

� Seven Deadly Sins.

� The Trumpton fire brigade. (Pugh, Pugh, Barney, Magrew, Cuthburt, Dibble and Grub)

� Seven Seas

� In Chinese culture, the seventh day of the first moon of the lunar year is known as Human's Day to be celebrated as the universal birthday of all human beings