Possible Mathmatical Origin of "The Number of the Beast: 666":

Take the main roman numerals (the ones that get a new letter) 1 through 50 and add them up:

I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500 +
___________
666

So whether or not this is true Scott Flansburgh, aka The Human Calculator has suggested letters were put in place by the Romans to make math difficult so people wouldn't progress. Therefore 666 became an evil number because it implied intellegence and breaking their code.

So I did a google search on the "Origin of 666" and this is what I came up with:

The devil is both god (the god of flesh) and man so he gets the trinity of numbers for being a god and the number 6 which is the number for man, hence 666.

Its also suggested it connected to ancient Pagen Numerology and the Illuminati (I'm still working on reading about this one - their explination is long!! - and they also suggest that Phoenix is the ancient name of Lucifer, which I'm annoyed about, but must read). However my short term understanding is that there were 36 lesser gods and when the numbers 1 through 36 are added (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666) you get 666.

I have no idea why I latched on to this train of thought. I was just listening to the radio before my workout in case they gave out any bonus codes (I'm a sucker for dumb promotional games). Scott Flansburgh was a cool morning guest. His math theories and abilities were interesting and I love that his main work is teaching math to kids. But he randomly brought it up and my mind got hooked.

Anyway, I'm amused - thought I'd share.