The Challenge Numbers

Running alongside the Pinnacles, modern numerology sets a series of Challenges, numbers that name the obstacles and weaknesses a person must work through in each period, the difficulties that balance the opportunities of the Pinnacles. They are calculated by subtraction rather than addition, taking the absolute difference between reduced components of the birth date, so that where the rest of the system builds by adding, the Challenges are found by the gap between numbers.

The Major Challenge spans much of the life and is derived from the difference between the reduced birth month and birth day, with minor challenges governing shorter periods. Because a Challenge is often zero, when the two components are equal, numerology treats zero here as a challenge of a special kind, the absence of a fixed lesson. The Challenge scheme is part of the Pythagorean numerology built in the United States in the early twentieth century; like the Pinnacles it is a modern timing device, called Pythagorean by convention and not by any ancient descent.