HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

7 (seven) is the
natural number In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country"). Numbers used for counting are called ''cardinal ...
following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only
prime number A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
preceding a cube. As an early
prime number A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
in the series of
positive integers In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country"). Numbers used for counting are called ''cardinal ...
, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
,
mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...
, superstition and philosophy. The seven
Classical planet In classical antiquity, the seven classical planets or seven luminaries are the seven moving astronomical objects in the sky visible to the naked eye: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The word ''planet'' comes fro ...
s resulted in seven being the number of days in a week. It is often considered
luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...
y in
Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
and is often seen as highly symbolic. Unlike
Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
, in
Vietnamese culture The culture of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Văn hoá Việt Nam) is highly multicultural. The early culture in Vietnam started with the Bronze Age Đông Sơn culture considered to be one of its most important progenitors for its Ancient history. Vie ...
, the number seven is sometimes considered unlucky. It is the first natural number whose pronunciation contains more than one syllable.


Evolution of the Arabic digit

In the
beginning Beginning may refer to: * ''Beginning'' (album), by Pakho Chau * ''Beginning'' (play), a 2017 play by David Eldridge * ''Beginning'' (film), a Georgian-French drama film *"Beginning", a song by heavy metal band Kotipelto *"Beginning", a 2018 trac ...
, Indians wrote 7 more or less in one stroke as a curve that looks like an uppercase vertically inverted. The western Ghubar Arabs' main contribution was to make the longer line diagonal rather than straight, though they showed some tendencies to making the digit more rectilinear. The eastern
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
s developed the digit from a form that looked something like our 6 to one that looked like an uppercase V. Both modern Arab forms influenced the European form, a two-stroke form consisting of a horizontal upper stroke joined at its right to a stroke going down to the bottom left corner, a line that is slightly curved in some font variants. As is the case with the
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an digit, the Cham and Khmer digit for 7 also evolved to look like their digit 1, though in a different way, so they were also concerned with making their 7 more different. For the Khmer this often involved adding a horizontal line to the top of the digit. This is analogous to the horizontal stroke through the middle that is sometimes used in handwriting in the Western world but which is almost never used in computer fonts. This horizontal stroke is, however, important to distinguish the glyph for seven from the glyph for one in writing that uses a long upstroke in the glyph for 1. In some Greek dialects of the early 12th century the longer line diagonal was drawn in a rather semicircular transverse line. On the
seven-segment display A seven-segment display is a form of electronic display device for displaying decimal numerals that is an alternative to the more complex dot matrix displays. Seven-segment displays are widely used in digital clocks, electronic meters, basic ...
s of pocket calculators and digital watches, 7 is the digit with the most common graphic variation (1, 6 and 9 also have variant glyphs). Most calculators use three line segments, but on Sharp,
Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. I ...
, and a few other brands of calculators, 7 is written with four line segments because in Japan, Korea and Taiwan 7 is written with a "hook" on the left, as ① in the following illustration. While the shape of the character for the digit 7 has an ascender in most modern
typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...
s, in typefaces with
text figures Text figures (also known as non-lining, lowercase, old style, ranging, hanging, medieval, billing, or antique figures or numerals) are numerals designed with varying heights in a fashion that resembles a typical line of running text, hence the ...
the character usually has a
descender In typography and handwriting, a descender is the portion of a letter that extends below the baseline of a font. For example, in the letter ''y'', the descender is the "tail", or that portion of the diagonal line which lies below the ''v'' c ...
, as, for example, in . Most people in Continental Europe, and some in Britain and Ireland as well as Latin America, write 7 with a line in the middle ("7"), sometimes with the top line crooked. The line through the middle is useful to clearly differentiate the digit from the digit one, as the two can appear similar when written in certain styles of handwriting. This form is used in official handwriting rules for primary school in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Poland, other Slavic countries, France, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Romania, Germany, Greece, and Hungary.


Mathematics

Seven, the fourth
prime number A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
, is not only a
Mersenne prime In mathematics, a Mersenne prime is a prime number that is one less than a power of two. That is, it is a prime number of the form for some integer . They are named after Marin Mersenne, a French Minim friar, who studied them in the early 17th ...
(since ) but also a
double Mersenne prime In mathematics, a double Mersenne number is a Mersenne number of the form :M_ = 2^-1 where ''p'' is prime. Examples The first four terms of the sequence of double Mersenne numbers areChris Caldwell''Mersenne Primes: History, Theorems and ...
since the exponent, 3, is itself a Mersenne prime. It is also a Newman–Shanks–Williams prime, a
Woodall prime In number theory, a Woodall number (''W'n'') is any natural number of the form :W_n = n \cdot 2^n - 1 for some natural number ''n''. The first few Woodall numbers are: :1, 7, 23, 63, 159, 383, 895, … . History Woodall numbers were first st ...
, a factorial prime, a
lucky prime In number theory, a lucky number is a natural number in a set which is generated by a certain "sieve". This sieve is similar to the Sieve of Eratosthenes that generates the primes, but it eliminates numbers based on their position in the remain ...
, a
happy number In number theory, a happy number is a number which eventually reaches 1 when replaced by the sum of the square of each digit. For instance, 13 is a happy number because 1^2+3^2=10, and 1^2+0^2=1. On the other hand, 4 is not a happy number because ...
(happy prime), a
safe prime In number theory, a prime number ''p'' is a if 2''p'' + 1 is also prime. The number 2''p'' + 1 associated with a Sophie Germain prime is called a . For example, 11 is a Sophie Germain prime and 2 × 11 +  ...
(the only ), a Leyland prime of the second kind and the fourth Heegner number. *Seven is the lowest natural number that cannot be represented as the sum of the squares of three integers. (See Lagrange's four-square theorem#Historical development.) *Seven is the
aliquot sum In number theory, the aliquot sum ''s''(''n'') of a positive integer ''n'' is the sum of all proper divisors of ''n'', that is, all divisors of ''n'' other than ''n'' itself. That is, :s(n)=\sum\nolimits_d. It can be used to characterize the prime ...
of one number, the
cubic number In arithmetic and algebra, the cube of a number is its third power, that is, the result of multiplying three instances of together. The cube of a number or any other mathematical expression is denoted by a superscript 3, for example or . ...
and is the base of the 7-aliquot tree. *7 is the only number ''D'' for which the equation has more than two solutions for ''n'' and ''x'' natural. In particular, the equation is known as the
Ramanujan–Nagell equation In mathematics, in the field of number theory, the Ramanujan–Nagell equation is an equation between a square number and a number that is seven less than a power of two. It is an example of an exponential Diophantine equation, an equation to be ...
. *7 is the only dimension, besides the familiar 3, in which a vector cross product can be defined. *7 is the lowest
dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coor ...
of a known exotic sphere, although there may exist as yet unknown exotic smooth structures on the 4-dimensional sphere. * divided by 7 is exactly . Therefore, when a
vulgar fraction A fraction (from la, fractus, "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight ...
with 7 in the
denominator A fraction (from la, fractus, "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight ...
is converted to a decimal expansion, the result has the same six- digit repeating sequence after the decimal point, but the sequence can start with any of those six digits. For example, and :In fact, if one sorts the digits in the number 142,857 in ascending order, 124578, it is possible to know from which of the digits the decimal part of the number is going to begin with. The remainder of dividing any number by 7 will give the position in the sequence 124578 that the decimal part of the resulting number will start. For example, 628 ÷ 7 = ; here 5 is the remainder, and would correspond to number 7 in the ranking of the ascending sequence. So in this case, . Another example, , hence the remainder is 2, and this corresponds to number 2 in the sequence. In this case, . *A seven-sided shape is a
heptagon In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon. The heptagon is sometimes referred to as the septagon, using "sept-" (an elision of ''septua-'', a Latin-derived numerical prefix, rather than '' hepta-'', a Greek-derived nu ...
. The regular ''n''-gons for ''n'' ≤ 6 can be constructed by compass and straightedge alone, but the regular heptagon cannot.
Figurate number The term figurate number is used by different writers for members of different sets of numbers, generalizing from triangular numbers to different shapes (polygonal numbers) and different dimensions (polyhedral numbers). The term can mean * polyg ...
s representing heptagons (including seven) are called
heptagonal number A heptagonal number is a figurate number that is constructed by combining heptagons with ascending size. The ''n''-th heptagonal number is given by the formula :H_n=\frac. The first few heptagonal numbers are: : 0, 1, 7, 18, 34, 55, 81, 112 ...
s. Seven is also a centered hexagonal number. *There are seven
frieze group In mathematics, a frieze or frieze pattern is a two-dimensional design that repeats in one direction. Such patterns occur frequently in architecture and decorative art. Frieze patterns can be classified into seven types according to their symmetrie ...
s, the groups consisting of symmetries of the plane whose group of
translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
is isomorphic to the group of
integer An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign ( −1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the languag ...
s. *There are seven fundamental types of catastrophes. *When rolling two standard six-sided dice, seven has a 6 in 6 (or ) probability of being rolled (1–6, 6–1, 2–5, 5–2, 3–4, or 4–3), the greatest of any number. The opposite sides of a standard six-sided dice always add to 7. *The
Millennium Prize Problems The Millennium Prize Problems are seven well-known complex mathematical problems selected by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. The Clay Institute has pledged a US$1 million prize for the first correct solution to each problem. According ...
are seven problems in mathematics that were stated by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. Currently, six of the problems remain unsolved.


Basic calculations


In science

* Seven colors in a rainbow:
ROYGBIV ROYGBIV is an acronym for the sequence of hues commonly described as making up a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. There are several mnemonics that can be used for remembering this color sequence, such as the ...
* Seven
Continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
s *
Seven Seas The "Seven Seas" is a figurative term for all the seas of the known world. The phrase is used in reference to sailors and pirates in the arts and popular culture and can be associated with the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Seven Seas east of Af ...
* Seven climes * The neutral pH balance * Number of music notes in a scale * Number of spots most commonly found on ladybugs * Atomic number for
Nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...


In Psychology

* Seven, plus or minus two as a model of working memory. * Seven psychological types called the Seven Rays in the teachings of Alice A. Bailey * In Western Culture, Seven is consistently listed as people's favorite number. * When guessing numbers 1-10 the number 7 is most likely to be picked. * Seven-year itch: happiness in marriage said to decline after 7 years


Classical antiquity

The
Pythagoreans Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the ancient Greek colony of Kroton, ...
invested particular numbers with unique spiritual properties. The number seven was considered to be particularly interesting because it consisted of the union of the physical (number 4) with the spiritual (number 3). In Pythagorean numerology the number 7 means spirituality. References from classical antiquity to the number seven include: *Seven Classical planets and the derivative Seven Heavens *
Seven Wonders of the ancient world The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity. The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2 ...
*Seven metals of antiquity * Seven days in the week *
Seven Seas The "Seven Seas" is a figurative term for all the seas of the known world. The phrase is used in reference to sailors and pirates in the arts and popular culture and can be associated with the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Seven Seas east of Af ...
* Seven Sages * Seven champions that fought Thebes *
Seven hills of Rome The seven hills of Rome ( la, Septem colles/montes Romae, it, Sette colli di Roma ) east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the city. Hills The seven hills are: * Aventine Hill (Latin: ''Collis Aventi ...
and Seven Kings of Rome * Seven Sisters, the daughters of
Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...
also known as the
Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance ...


Religion and mythology


Judaism

The number seven forms a widespread typological pattern within
Hebrew scripture The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''
yom Yom ( he, יום) is a Biblical Hebrew word which occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The word means day in both Modern and Biblical Hebrew. Overview Although ''yom'' is commonly rendered as day in English translations, the word yom can be used in differ ...
) of Creation, leading to the seventh day or Sabbath (Genesis 1) *Seven-fold vengeance visited on upon Cain for the killing of
Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepherd ...
(Genesis 4:15) *Seven pairs of every clean animal loaded onto the ark by Noah (Genesis 7:2) *Seven years of plenty and seven years of famine in Pharaoh's dream (Genesis 41) *Seventh son of Jacob, Gad, whose name means good luck (Genesis 46:16) *Seven times bullock's blood is sprinkled before God (Leviticus 4:6) *Seven nations God told the
Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
s they would displace when they entered the land of
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
(Deuteronomy 7:1) *Seven days of the
Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...
feast (Exodus 13:3–10) *Seven-branched
candelabrum A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures ...
or Menorah (Exodus 25) *Seven
trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...
played by seven priests for seven days to bring down the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6:8) *Seven things that are detestable to God (Proverbs 6:16–19) *Seven Pillars of the
House of Wisdom The House of Wisdom ( ar, بيت الحكمة, Bayt al-Ḥikmah), also known as the Grand Library of Baghdad, refers to either a major Abbasid public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad or to a large private library belonging to the Abba ...
(Proverbs 9:1) *Seven archangels in the deuterocanonical
Book of Tobit The Book of Tobit () ''Tōbith'' or ''Tōbit'' ( and spellings are also attested) itself from he, טובי ''Tovi'' "my good"; Book of Tobias in the Vulgate from the Greek ''Tōbias'', itself from the Hebrew ''Tovyah'' " Yah is good", also k ...
(12:15) References to the number seven in Jewish knowledge and practice include: *Seven divisions of the weekly readings or
aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
of the
Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
*Seven Jewish men (over the age of 13) called to read aliyahs in
Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
morning services *Seven blessings recited under the
chuppah A ''chuppah'' ( he, חוּפָּה, pl. חוּפּוֹת, ''chuppot'', literally, "canopy" or "covering"), also huppah, chipe, chupah, or chuppa, is a canopy under which a Judaism, Jewish couple stand during their Jewish wedding, wedding cere ...
during a Jewish wedding ceremony *Seven days of festive meals for a Jewish bride and groom after their wedding, known as Sheva Berachot or Seven Blessings *Seven Ushpizzin prayers to the Jewish patriarchs during the holiday of
Sukkot or ("Booths, Tabernacles") , observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopagans , type = Jewish, Samaritan , begins = 15th day of Tishrei , ends = 21st day of Tishre ...


Christianity

Following the traditional of the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
Hebrew: ''Tān ...
, the
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
likewise uses the number seven as part of a typological pattern: *Seven loaves multiplied into seven basketfuls of surplus (Matthew 15:32–37) *Seven
demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...
were driven out of
Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
(Luke 8:2) * Seven last sayings of Jesus on the cross *Seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom (Acts 6:3) *
Seven Spirits of God In the Christian Bible, the term Seven Spirits of God appears four times in the Book of Revelation.''The Book of Revelation'' by Robert H. Mounce 1997 Eerdmans Pub. pp. 46–4/ref>''Revelation 1–11'' by John F. MacArthur (15 Apr 1999) pp. 108 ...
, Seven Churches and
Seven Seals The Seven Seals of God from the Bible's Book of Revelation are the seven symbolic seals (, ''sphragida'') that secure the book or scroll that John of Patmos saw in an apocalyptic vision. The opening of the seals of the document occurs in Rev Ch ...
in the
Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...
References to the number seven in Christian knowledge and practice include: *
Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are an enumeration of seven spiritual gifts first found in the book of Isaiah, and much commented upon by patristic authors. They are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of ...
* Seven Corporal Acts of Mercy and Seven Spiritual Acts of Mercy *
Seven deadly sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...
: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride, and seven terraces of Mount
Purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
* Seven Virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility * Seven Joys and
Seven Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows ( la, Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows ( la, Mater Dolorosa, link=no), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names ...
of the Virgin Mary *
Seven Sleepers In the Islamic and Christian traditions, the Seven Sleepers, otherwise known as the Sleepers of Ephesus and Companions of the Cave, is a medieval legend about a group of youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus (modern-day S ...
of Christian myth *Seven
Sacraments A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the real ...
in the Catholic Church (though some traditions assign a different number)


Islam

References to the number seven in Islamic knowledge and practice include: *Seven ayat in
sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...
t
al-Fatiha Al-Fatiha (alternatively transliterated Al-Fātiḥa or Al-Fātiḥah; ar, ألْفَاتِحَة, ; ), is the first ''surah'' (chapter) of the Quran. It consists of 7 '' ayah'' (verses) which are a prayer for guidance and mercy. Al-Fatiha i ...
, the first book of the holy
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
*Seven circumambulations of Muslim pilgrims around the
Kaaba The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
in
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
during the
Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
and the
Umrah The ʿUmrah ( ar, عُمْرَة, lit=to visit a populated place) is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (the holiest city for Muslims, located in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia) that can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the ...
*Seven walks between
Al-Safa and Al-Marwah Safa and Marwa ( ar, ٱلصَّفَا وَٱلْمَرْوَة, Aṣ-Ṣafā wal-Marwah) are two small hills, connected to the larger Abu Qubais and Qaiqan mountains, respectively, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, now made part of the Masjid al-Haram. M ...
performed Muslim pilgrims during the
Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
and the
Umrah The ʿUmrah ( ar, عُمْرَة, lit=to visit a populated place) is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (the holiest city for Muslims, located in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia) that can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the ...
*Seven doors to hell (for heaven the number of doors is eight) *Seventh day
naming ceremony A naming ceremony is a stage at which a person or persons is officially assigned a name. The methods of the practice differ over cultures and religions. The timing at which a name is assigned can vary from some days after birth to several months o ...
held for babies *Seven enunciators of divine revelation (''nāṭiqs'') according to the celebrated
Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...
Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...
dignitary
Nasir Khusraw Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī Balkhi ( fa, ناصر خسرو قبادیانی, Nasir Khusraw Qubadiani) also spelled as ''Nasir Khusrow'' and ''Naser Khosrow'' (1004 – after 1070 CE) w ...
*
Circle Seven Koran The Moorish Science Temple of America is an American national and religious organization founded by Noble Drew Ali (born as Timothy Drew) in the early twentieth century. He based it on the premise that African Americans are descendants of the Moa ...
, the holy scripture of the Moorish Science Temple of America


Hinduism

References to the number seven in Hindu knowledge and practice include: *Seven worlds in the universe and seven seas in the world in Hindu cosmology *Seven sages or
Saptarishi The Saptarishi () are the seven rishis of ancient India who are extolled in the Vedas, and other Hindu literature. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, although later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and Upanisads do so. ...
and their seven wives or Sapta Matrka in
Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...
*Seven
Chakras Chakras (, ; sa , text=चक्र , translit=cakra , translit-std=IAST , lit=wheel, circle; pi, cakka) are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or ...
in eastern philosophy *Seven stars in a constellation called " Saptharishi Mandalam" in Indian astronomy *Seven promises, or
Saptapadi Saptapadi () is regarded to be the most important rite (Sanskrit: ) of a Hindu wedding ceremony. After tying the sacred knot known as the mangalasutra, the newly-wed couple takes seven steps together, during which the marriage is solemnised. Aft ...
, and seven circumambulations around a fire at Hindu weddings *Seven virgin goddesses or Saptha Kannimar worshipped in temples in
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
*Seven hills at
Tirumala Tirumala is a spiritual town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the suburbs of the Tirupati, Tirupati urban agglomeration. The town is a part of Tirupati Urban Development Authority and located in Tirupa ...
known as Yedu Kondalavadu in
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...
, or ezhu malaiyan in
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
, meaning "Sevenhills God" *Seven steps taken by the
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
at birth *Seven divine ancestresses of humankind in Khasi mythology *Seven octets or
Saptak Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of eight notes". It denotes the set of swaras i.e. Ṣaḍja (Sa), Ṛiṣabha (Re), Gāndhāra (Ga), Madhyama (Ma), Panchama (Pa), Dhaivat (Dha), Niṣāda (Ni), Sadja (Sa) which comprise a musical scale ...
Swaras in Indian Music as the basis for Rāga, Ragas compositions *Seven Social Sins listed by Mahatma Gandhi


Eastern tradition

Other references to the number seven in Eastern traditions include: *Seven Lucky Gods or gods of good luck, fortune in Japanese mythology *Seven-Branched Sword in Japanese mythology *Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove in China *Seven minor symbols of yin and yang, yang in Taoist yin-yang


Other references

Other references to the number seven in traditions from around the world include: *Seven palms in an Egyptian ''cubit, Sacred Cubit'' *Seven ranks in Mithraism *Seven hills of Istanbul *Seven islands of Atlantis *Seven Cherokee clans *Seven lives of cats in Iran and German language, German and Romance Languages, Romance language-speaking cultures *Seven fingers on each hand, seven toes on each foot and seven pupils in each eye of the Irish epic hero Cúchulainn *Seventh sons will be werewolf, werewolves in Galicia (Spain), Galician folklore, or the son of a woman and a werewolf in other European folklores *Seventh son of a seventh son, Seventh sons of a seventh son will be magicians with special powers of healing and clairvoyance in some cultures, or vampires in others *Seven prominent Guaraní mythology#Seven legendary monsters, legendary monsters in Guaraní mythology *Seven gateways traversed by Inanna during her descent into the underworld *''Seven Wise Masters'', a cycle of medieval stories *Seven sister goddesses or fates in Baltic mythology called the List of Lithuanian gods and mythological figures#Gods and goddesses, Deivės Valdytojos. *Seven legendary Cities of Gold, such as Quivira and Cíbola, Cibola, that the Spanish thought existed in South America *Seven years spent by Thomas the Rhymer in the faerie kingdom in the eponymous British folk tale *Seven-year cycle in which the Queen of Elphame, Queen of the Fairies pays a tithe to Hell (or possibly Hel (location), Hel) in the tale of Tam Lin *''Seven Valleys'', a text by the Prophet-Founder Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í faith *Seven superuniverses in the cosmology of Urantia *Seven psychological types called the Seven Rays in the teachings of Alice A. Bailey *The sacred number of YemayaYemaya
Santeria Church of the Orishas. Retrieved 25 November 2022


In culture


In literature

* Seven Dwarfs * Seven features prominently in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' by George R. R. Martin, namely, the Seven Kingdoms and the Faith of the Seven


In sports

* Sports with seven players per side ** Kabaddi ** Rugby sevens ** Water Polo ** Netball ** Handball ** Flag Football ** Ultimate Frisbee * Seven is the least number of players a soccer team must have on the field in order for a match to start and continue. * A touchdown plus an Conversion (gridiron football), extra point is worth seven points.


See also

*Diatonic scale (7 notes) *Rainbow, Seven colors in the rainbow *Seven continents *Seven liberal arts *Seven Wonders of the Ancient World *Seven days of the Week *Septenary, Septenary (numeral system) *Year Seven (School) *Se7en (disambiguation) *Sevens (disambiguation) *One-seventh area triangle * Z with stroke (Ƶ) *List of highways numbered 7


Notes


References

*Wells, D. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers'' London: Penguin Group (1987): 70–71 {{DEFAULTSORT:7 (Number) Integers 7 (number)