ARTICLE 1

TTH
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E P
PY
YTTH
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OR
RE
EA
AN
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ATTU
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RE
E O
OFF S
SU
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ER
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STTR
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A
AN
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STTR
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G TTH
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by

Stephen M. Phillips
Flat 7, 40 Norwich Avenue West. Bournemouth. BH2 6AW. ENGLAND.
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://smphillips.8m.com
ABSTRACT
The Pythagorean doctrine of a four-fold hierarchy or pattern in natural
phenomena is generalised to the formulation of a 'Tetrad Principle' governing
fundamental subatomic particle structures and processes. This principle is shown
to prescribe the group-theoretical parameters of E8E8, the anomaly-free,
superstring gauge symmetry group, as well as E8 and its exceptional subgroups
E7, E6 and F4. The tetractys the Pythagorean geometrical symbol of whole
systems is related to the space-times of superstrings and bosonic strings. As
further illustration of this powerful principle, the dimensionality of bosonic
strings and group-theoretical parameters of E8 are shown to be embodied in the
geometry of the first four Platonic solids, believed by the ancient Greeks to be the
shapes of the particles of the four elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire.

1. PYTHAGOREAN MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES

Pythagoras founded* a school of philosophy in Croton in southern Italy that was renowned
throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. As much a religious brotherhood as a scholastic
academy teaching music, astronomy, ethics, arithmetic and geometry, its students were taught
mathematics not as it was considered by Plato as a preparation for an otherworldly
contemplation of divine principles but in order to contemplate the divine immanent in nature. The
mathematical doctrines of Pythagoras cannot be properly understood without recognising that the
modern dichotomy of science and religion did not exist for the Pythagoreans, who believed that
*

Pythagoras early biographers provide an unreliable, inconsistent chronology. But, as they agree that he left his
home Samos for Italy during the rule of its dictator Polycrates (528522BC) and was deported from Egypt after its
invasion by Cambyses in 525 BC, he must have started his school at Croton between 525 BC and 522 BC.
1

Pythagoras
(from The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Manley P. Hall (The Philosophical Research
Society, Inc., Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., 1988).
Hovering like a halo above the sages head, the tetractys is depicted by Hall as a triangular array of
ten yods (the comma-shaped yod is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet). The authors
researches indicate that it was Pythagoras greatest discovery, because it turns objects with sacred
geometry into numbers of cosmic significance and relevance to modern theoretical physics.
2

man can realise his divine nature by knowing the universal principle which governs the cosmos (a
word coined by Pythagoras himself, meaning world-order, a world ordered in a state of
mathematical harmony). This principle is Number, which is the principle, the source and the root
of all things (1). For the Pythagoreans, the spiritual and scientific dimensions of number were
complementary and could not be separated.
Pythagoras was not only the first to call himself a philosopher but also a priest-initiate of a
mystery religion influenced heavily by Orphism, which taught that the essence of the gods is
defined by number. Numbers, indeed, expressed the essence of all created things. According to the
Pythagorean Philolaus: All things which can be known have numbers, for it is not possible that
without number anything can either be conceived or known (2). The Pythagoreans were the first
to assert that natural phenomena conformed to mathematical principles and so could be understood
by means of mathematics. In this sense, they may be considered the first physicists. But their
doctrine gradually became distorted into the proposition that not only does number express the
essence of things but also that, ultimately, all things are numbers. Unconvinced by the peculiar
emphasis Pythagoreans gave to numbers because he was not privy to the secrets of their teachings,
Aristotle said of them: These thinkers seem to consider that number is the principle both as matter
for things and as constituting their attributes and permanent state (3).
The Pythagoreans thought that numbers had metaphysical characters, which expressed the nature
of the gods. The number one (the Monad) represented the principle of unity the undifferentiated
source of all created things. The Pythagoreans did not even regard it as a number because for them
it was the ultimate principle underlying all numbers. The number 2 (Dyad) represented duality
the beginning of multiplicity, but not yet the possibility of logos, the principle relating one thing to
another. The number 3 (Triad) was called harmony because it created a relation or harmonia
(joining together) between the polar extremes of the undifferentiated Monad and the unlimited
differentiation of Dyad.
Pythagoras was the first to use geometrical diagrams as models of cosmic wholeness and the
celestial order. Numbers themselves were represented by geometrical shapes: triangles, squares,
pentagons, etc. For example, a triangular number is any number that is equal to the number of
dots forming a triangular array (fig. 1) and a square number is one that can be represented by a
square array of dots. The ancient Greeks generalised such figurative numbers by considering
nests of n regular polygons nested inside one another so that they share two adjacent sides (fig. 2).
Dots denoting the number 1 are spaced at regular intervals along the edges of the polygons, the
3

edge of each polygon having one more dot than the edge of its smaller predecessor. The total
number PNn of dots in a set of n nested regular polygons with N sides is called a polygonal
number. The number 1 is the first polygonal number, i.e., PN1 = 1. The second polygonal number,
which is simply the number of corners of an N-sided, regular polygons, is PN2 = N, the third is PN3,
etc. PNn is given by:
PNn = n[(N2)n (N4)]
Table I lists for future reference formulae expressing the first ten types of polygonal numbers:
TABLE I

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

P3n
P4n
P5n
P6n
P7n
P8n
P9n
P10n
P11n
P12n

Tn
Sn
Pn
Hn
hn
On
Nn
Dn
En
dn

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

n(n+1)
n(2n0)
n(3n1)
n(4n2)
n(5n3)
n(6n4)
n(7n5)
n(8n6)
n(9n7)
n(10n8)

The best-known polygonal number is the famous Pythagorean Triangle or tetractys which, as the
4th triangular number, is an equilateral triangular array of ten dots (fig. 3a). We shall call these
dots yods after the dot-shaped, tenth letter yod of the Hebrew alphabet. The yod () at the centre
of the tetractys in Figure 3b is the centre of a hexagon whose corners are the six other () yods.
These seven yods will be called hexagonal yods. The four rows of yods forming the tetractys
represent the first four integers 1, 2, 3 & 4. The tetractys denotes the number 10, the Decad, which
for the Pythagoreans was the perfect number, symbolising wholeness and unity.
The importance of the tetractys to them is illustrated by their oath of fellowship:
I swear by the discoverer* of the Tetractys,
Which is the spring of all our wisdom,
The perennial fount and root of Nature (4).
Why was this? Surely not merely because the tetractys was a representation of the perfect Decad?!
Scholars know that it came to signify for the Pythagoreans an all-embracing paradigm for whole
systems. They believed that a four-fold pattern permeated the natural world, examples of which
are the four seasons, the point, line, surface and solid and the four elements Earth, Water, Air and
*

A reference to Pythagoras.
4

Fire. However, this alone does not explain why they valued the tetractys so much. This article will
reveal deeper meanings of the Pythagorean doctrine concerning the tetractys, which link it to
current research into the theories of superstrings and bosonic strings. It will explain why the
Pythagoreans called the Tetrad, or number 4, the greatest miracle. For, indeed, this is what it is,
because it prescribes the mathematical description of the subatomic world.
The mathematical counterpart of the Pythagorean metaphysical doctrine of the Tetrad will be
called the Tetrad Principle. This states:
TETRAD PRINCIPLE
Integers of significance to the physics of fundamental processes are always either:
1) the 4th member of a class of numbers (sometimes the (42 = 16)th member of a class);
2) the sum of the first 4 members of a class;
3) the sum of 4 consecutive members of a class, starting with the 4th;
4) a property of either the 4th member or the first 4 members of a class of mathematical
objects, or of the square (symbol of the Tetrad) or square array of integers or mathematical
objects, or of a tetractys array or geometrical pattern of integers with orthogonal symmetry.

The most obvious example from superstring theory of this principle is its prediction that spacetime has 10 dimensions, where 10 is the 4th triangular number:
10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4.
Many more will be encountered later. No claim is made for the converse of this principal, e.g., the
4th (or 16th) member or the first 4 members of any class of mathematical objects always quantify
a parameter governing fundamental processes. The Tetrad Principle is a necessary, but not
sufficient, condition for a number to be of significance to the subatomic world. This means that a
number which is predicted by a theory as having fundamental significance in the subatomic world
and which is consistent with the Tetrad Principle is not necessarily an actual parameter of the
physics of this world. The fact that examples to be discussed in Section 2 can be found which
show how this principle prescribes parameters of the theories of superstrings and bosonic strings
does not in itself indicate that these string theories are true. Taken individually, such examples
merely demonstrate that they satisfy a necessary criterion for being valid. What, however, turns
this criterion into a potent principle is the large degree to which these two theories support it. As
Section 2 reveals, their degree of consistency with the Tetrad Principle so exceeds what chance
would lead one to expect that such detailed conformity cannot plausibly be discounted as purely
5

coincidental. Instead, it is indicative of a powerful, hitherto unrecognised principle at work

prescribing the mathematics of fundamental phenomena one which the Pythagoreans appear to
have intuited in their emphasis on the importance of the number 4 to the study of nature.
The tetractys is but one member of an infinite series of tetractyses in which the nth member Tn is
generated by replacing each yod in the (n1)th member by a tetractys, two adjacent yods being
substituted by two tetractyses sharing a corner (fig. 4). The Pythagorean Monad the geometrical
point is the first member T0 of this series (the 0th-order tetractys), the Pythagorean Triangle
(1st-order tetractys) is the second member T1, the 2nd-order tetractys T2 is the third, and so on.
The Tetrad Principle prescribes properties of higher order tetractyses as well as T1 because they,
too, are paradigms of whole systems, albeit more differentiated. Because of its importance to our
discussion in Section 3, we illustrate below how the Tetrad Principle prescribes properties of T2:
1) number of yods = 85 = 40 + 41 + 42 + 43;
2) number of yods surrounding its centre = 84 = 12 + 32 + 52 + 72;
3) number of corners (!) of 1st-order tetractyses = 15 = 4th Mersenne number = 4th triangular
number after 1;
4) number of sides of 1st-order tetractyses = 30 = 12 + 22 + 32 + 42;
5) number of hexagonal yods (") = 70 = 4th, 4-dimensional, tetrahedral number after 1.

2. TETRAD PRINCIPLE IN STRING THEORIES.

In this section we shall illustrate the powerful role of the Pythagorean Tetrad Principle in
prescribing the mathematical character of superstring and bosonic string theories by making
explicit the arithmetic and geometric connections between the tetractys, the number 4 (as well as
the integers 1, 2, 3 & 4) and group-theoretical parameters of the superstring gauge symmetry
groups E8E8, E8 and its exceptional subgroups. Examples of how the Tetrad Principle defines
parameters of these two string theories are listed below:
1) Dimensionality of superstring space-time = 10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4, whilst large-scale space-time is
4-dimensional. As the 4th triangular number, 10 is symbolised by the Pythagorean tetractys
(fig. 5). But this representation of the perfect Decad central to the number philosophy of
Pythagoras is not merely a way of expressing the integers 1, 2, 3 & 4, as scholars have
traditionally believed. It is the paradigm for superstring space-time itself, as its following
physical interpretation demonstrates: the three yods at the corners of the tetractys not only
define the shape of the simplest geometrical figure the triangle but also symbolise the
dimensions of large-scale space in which the fundamental particles superstrings move.
The 6 hexagonal yods at the corners of the hexagon symbolise the 6 higher, compactified
6

dimensions predicted by superstring theory, whilst the yod at the centre of the tetractys denotes
the dimension of time. Just as the 9 yods on the boundary of the tetractys delineate its shape,
so they denote the 9 form-creating spatial dimensions of superstrings. The differentiation:
10 = 1 + 3 + 6
between uncompactified and compactified dimensions of the 10-dimensional space-time
predicted by superstring theory thus finds its geometrical counterpart in the tetractys. A
modern-day Pythagorean would account for this analogy by declaring that the identity of
number and form implies that the dimensionality of space-time the precursor of form
must conform to the 10-fold nature of Unity, the Monad which, being the source of number, is
also the origin of material form.
2) According to the Pythagoreans, the integers 1, 2, 3 & 4 symbolised by the four rows of yods in
the tetractys define, respectively, the dimensionless point, the 1-dimensional line with its 2
endpoints, the 2-dimensional triangle with its 3 corners (hence, in general, surface) and the
3-dimensional tetrahedron with its 4 corners (hence, in general, volume) (fig. 6). The 4 stages
of generation from a mathematical point of the simplest polyhedron are an illustration of the
Pythagorean doctrine of a 4-fold sequence in the generation of form. They comprise 26 points,
lines, triangles and tetrahedra. In other words, 26 geometrical elements are required to create
the simplest solid in 4 steps. Compare this with the fact that the critical dimension of spacetime for free bosonic strings to have no negative-probability ghost states (5) and for the theory
to be Lorentz invariant (6) is 26. This is not a coincidence but an example of the Tetrad
Principle generating identical numbers in contexts that, although ostensibly unrelated, are
analogous in the sense that both the tetrahedron and bosonic string are basic forms, the former
in the large-scale world and the latter in the subatomic world.
More generally, 26 is the number of combinations of 10 different objects selected from the 4
rows of a tetractys without mixing between rows (fig. 7). As 2n 1 is the total number of
different combinations of n objects and Mn = 2n 1 is, by definition, the nth Mersenne number,
26 is the sum of the first 4 Mersenne numbers 1, 3, 7 and 15, indicating how the Tetrad
Principle determines the dimensionality of space-time predicted by bosonic string theory.
26 can be represented as a tetractys array of the first 4 powers of 2:
20
2 21
20 21 22
0
2 21 22 23
0

=
=
=
=
Total =

1
3
7
15
26

This array has one other orientation:

23
22 22
1
2 21 21
20 20 20 20

1 23
2 22
3 21
4 20

=
=
=
=

=8
=8
=6
=4

16
10

The sum of the four powers 20 at its base is 4, the dimension of macroscopic space-time, the
sum of the three powers 21 is 6, the number of compactified dimensions of superstrings, and
the sum of the remaining powers of 2 is 16, the number of spatial dimensions of bosonic
strings whose compactification was suggested originally by Freund (7) to generate
E8E8-invariant superstrings. The bifurcation: 26 = 10 + 16 is reproduced in this powers-of-2
representation in an intuitively more fundamental way:
23

23

22 22
26 =

22 22

21 21 21

20 20 20 20

21 21 21

+
20

20

20 20

i.e., the number (10) of superstring dimensions is the sum of the three powers of 2 at the formdefining corners of the tetractys and the number (16) of compactified, purely bosonic
dimensions is the sum of the seven powers of 2 located at the hexagonal yods of the tetractys.
3) The square the geometrical symbol of the Tetrad arithmetically defines the number 26 in
the following ways:
A). Since
22

42

62

82

242

102

222

122

2600 =
202

182

162

142

and
13

23

4
4

4
= 100 =

4
4

4
33

4
4

4
4

4
4

4
43

4
4

4
4

(a square divided into tetractyses contains 25 yods and 100 = 254), 26 is the ratio:

B). 26 is the arithmetic mean of the first 25 even integers up to 50:

Since
14
2 24
4
3 34 34
44 44 44 44
4

2650 = 15 + 25 + 35 + 45 =

and
42
2

32

22 22 22
1 12 12 12

50 =

26 has the following representation in terms of 1, 2, 3 & 4:

14
24 24
3 34 34
4
4 44 44 44
4

26 =
42
32 32
2 22 22
12 12 12 12
2

4) Number of dimensions of macroscopic space-time = 4, the 4th positive integer;

number of dimensions of superstring space-time = 10 = 4th triangular number;
number of bosonic string dimensions whose compactification generates superstrings = 16 = 4th
square number;
number of compactified bosonic string dimensions = 22 = 4th pentagonal number = sum of 1,
2, 3 & 4 raised, respectively, to powers 4, 3, 2 & 1:
14

23

41

32

22 =

As the geometrical symbol of the Tetrad, a square divided into 4 tetractyses generates the number
of spatial dimensions of bosonic strings and differentiates between superstring and purely bosonic
string dimensions:

25 =

= 16(!) + 9("),

10

where 16 (4th square number) is the number of purely bosonic string dimensions whose
compactification generates superstrings with 9 remaining spatial dimensions (9 = 4th odd
integer after 1). The central yod (") symbolises the longitudinal dimension of a string, the
surrounding 24 (= 1234 = 4!) yods represent the 24 transverse dimensions of a bosonic
string and the surrounding 8 yods (") denote the 8 transverse, purely superstring dimensions
(8 = 4th even integer). 25 is the arithmetic mean of the cubes of the first 4 integers:
25 = 13 + 23 + 33 + 43
4
6) The rank 8 of the unified gauge symmetry group E8 is the 4th even number. The rank 16 of
E8E8 is the 4th square number.
7) A tetractys-divided square expresses the dimension 248 of E8 in terms of 1, 2, 3 & 4:

8) Using the identity:

6200 = 24825 = 22 + 32 + 42 + ... + 262,
where the first term, 22 = 4, is the Tetrad and the last term is the square of the sum of the first 4
Mersenne numbers, the square displays the following remarkable property of the number 248:
32

52
122
2

142
4

262
232

22

248

172

248

248
11

82
222

192

248

182

162
242

92
162

25

212

72

248

248

248
248

248

132

248

248

202

248
248

248

152

248

11

248
248

248
248
248
248
248
248

248

248

Starting with the Tetrad 22 = 4 at the centre of the square and assigning the 24 (= 4!)
squares 32, 42, ... 262 to the surrounding 24 yods of the 4 tetractyses, with squares of even
integers inside the square and squares of odd integers on its boundary, the sum of these 25
squares is that resulting from assigning the number 248 to each yod in the square.
9) Starting with the 4th triangular number T4 = 10, the sum of the first (4 + 4 = 8) polygonal
numbers of the 4th order is 248:

The sum:

of the first 4 polygonal numbers represented by regular polygons with odd numbers of corners
is the number of non-zero roots of E8 of length squared 2 of the kind:
ui uj.i, j = 1, 2,8
where u1 are 8 orthonormal unit vectors. The Tetrad also expresses this number as

112 =

7
7
7
7

7
7
7
7

7
7
7
7

7
7
7
7

where 7 is both the 4th odd number and the 4th prime number. 112 is the 7th heptagonal
number (note that the heptagon is 7-sided). The Tetrad also defines the number (128) of nonzero roots of E8 of the kind:
( u1 u2 .. u8).(even # of + signs)
because 128 = 27 = 47/2 = (44th prime number). The total number of non-zero roots of E8 is

240

4!
4! 4!
4! 4! 4!
4! 4! 4! 4!
12

This number has also the representation:

It contains 36 even integers ending in the 4th square number, where 36 is the sum of the first 4
even integers and the first 4 odd integers (also 44th odd integer after 1). The sum of the
shaded triangular array of 15 integers is 112, and the sum of the remaining 21 integers is 128
(15 = 8th odd integer, where 8 = 4th even integer, and 21 = 10th odd integer after 1, where 10
= 4th triangular number). The sum of the 15 integers inside the boundary of the array of 36
integers is 100, the (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10)th square number, and the sum of the 21 integers on the
boundary is
140 = 12 + 22 + 32 + 42 + 52 + 62 + 72,
namely, the 7th square pyramidal number (7 = 4th prime/odd number). The Tetrad thus
differentiates between the two types of non-zero roots of E8. It also defines the 8 zero roots of
E8 because 8 is the 4th even integer.
Since 24 = 52 1 = 3 + 5 + 7 + 9,

240 =

24
3
5
7
9
24 24
3 3
5 5
7 7
9 9
24 24 24 = 3 3 3 + 5 5 5 + 7 7 7 + 9 9 9
24 24 24 24
3 3 3 3
5 5 5 5
7 7 7 7
9 9 9 9

i.e., 240 is the sum of

4
4
40 =
4

16

12

4 4 4
4 4 4

13

odd integers arranged as 4 tetractys arrays of the first 4 odd integers after 1. E8E8 has 480
non-zero roots. Since 480 = 1630 = 42(12 + 22 + 32 + 42)
42

82

162

122

this group parameter is the sum of 4 square numbers spaced 4 units apart, starting with the 4th
square. The number of zero roots of E8E8 is 16, the 4th square number. These examples
illustrate how the Tetrad Principle defines group theoretical parameters of the unified
superstring gauge symmetry group E8E8.
10) Defining the two possible tetractys arrays of the nth powers of 1, 2, 3 & 4:
4n
tn

3n 3n
2 2n 2n ,
1n 1n 1n 1n
n

1n
Tn

2n 2n
3 3n 3n
4n 4n 4n 4n
n

(n = 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.)

then, as To = to = 10 and Tn tn for n = 1, 2, 3, 4, there are 9 different numbers generated by

the values n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 (9 = 4th odd integer after 1). Remarkably, their sum is

2480 is the number of space-time components of the 248 ten-dimensional gauge fields of E8.
The Tetrad and the tetractys thus define this physical parameter of superstring theory. The sum
above may be written:

The nine different tetractys arrays of powers of 0, 1, 2, 3 & 4 not only sum to 2480 but also
14

differentiate between the (1+7) zero roots of E8 and its 240 non-zero roots!
11) Using the identity
1240 = 12 + 22 + 32 + 42 + ... + 152,
where
20

21
4

15 =

+
1

4
+

4
= 24 1

+
3

is the 4th Mersenne number, the Maltese Cross array of integers 115 shown in Figure 8 sums
to 4960. This is the number of the components of the 496 10-dimensional gauge fields of
E8E8. The representation is made up of 480 integers, where 480 is the number of non-zero
roots of E8E8, of which

integers form the boundary of the Maltese Cross. The 240 integers comprising a pair of arms
of the cross sum to 2480, the number of space-time components of the 248 gauge fields of E8.
Of these integers,
12

32

72

52

84 =

integers form the boundary of a pair of arms. This ancient religious emblem, whose four arms
symbolise the Tetrad, thus defines the number of space-time components of all the gauge
fields mediating the E8-invariant superstring force.
12) According to Aristotle, the Pythagoreans gained mathematical insights through their use of the
gnomon, or carpenter's square (8). For example, by sandwiching gnomons inside one another

15

with marked out points, they found that this generates a square array of points whose number
is the sum of the (odd) numbers of points in successive gnomons, i.e.,

This made them realise that the square of any integer n is the sum of the first n odd integers. In
particular, 4 gnomons generates the 4th square 16 as a 44 square array of points whose
number is the sum of the first 4 odd integers the numbers of points in successive gnomons:
16 = 42 = 1 + 3 + 5 + 7.
We pointed out in Section 1 that
84 = 12 + 32 + 52 + 72
is the number of yods surrounding the centre of a 2nd-order tetractys. The sum of these 4
squares assigned to points along 4 successive gnomons is
12

32

52

72

32

32

52

72

52

52

52

72

496 =

13

33

73

53

=
72

72

72

72

The sum of the cubes of the first 4 odd integers is the crucial dimension of the non-abelian
gauge symmetry group governing superstring interactions that Michael Green and Gary
Schwarz found to be free of quantum anomalies (9). This illustrates par excellence the
prescriptive power of the Tetrad Principle and substantiates the title: Holding the Key of
Nature that the Pythagoreans assigned to the number 4 (10).
Just as 4 gnomons generate the dimension 496 of E8E8 from the squares of the first 4 odd
integers, so 10 (= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4) gnomons generate the dimension 133 of E7, the largest

16

exceptional subgroup of E8, from the first 10 odd integers:

100 (= 13 + 23 + 33 + 43) odd integers make up the 10 gnomons. 1330 is also the sum of the
10th set of the first 7 types of polygonal numbers (7 = 4th prime/odd number):
T10 + S10 + P10 + H10 + h10 + O10 + N10 = 1330.
13) The hexagon is the 4th regular polygon. If the first 16 (= 42) hexagonal numbers are assigned
to successive dots in a 44 square array of dots, the last and largest hexagonal number is
H16 = 496,
which is the dimension of E8E8. Using the identity
Hn = 4Tn-1 + n
(Appendix B), then
H16 = 4T15 + 16 = 480 + 16,
which compares with the fact that the 496 roots of E8E8 consist of 480 non-zero roots and 16
zero roots.
14) The number of hexagonal yods in an n-sided regular polygon whose sectors are divided into
three tetractyses is
H(n) = 13n
(Appendix C). A square (n = 4) has 134 = 52 hexagonal yods and a hexagon (n = 6) has
136 = 78 hexagonal yods (fig. 9). The four-sided square thus defines the dimension 52 of the
rank-4 exceptional group F4, whilst the 4th regular polygon (the six-sided hexagon) defines
the dimension 78 of the rank-6 exceptional group E6, both groups being subgroups of E8.
The first 12 integers evenly spaced along the sides of a square, 4 integers to a side, sum to 78:

17

12

11

78 =

10

15) A square whose sectors are turned into 2nd-order tetractyses has 288 yods surrounding its
centre, where
288

11 + 22 + 33 + 44

1!2!3!4!
3

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

25

27

29

31

33

(33 = 1! + 2! + 3! + 4!)

showing how these integers 1, 2, 3 & 4 express this number. Of these yods,
4
4
40 =
4

16

12

4 4 4
=
4 4 4

are corners of 1st-order tetractyses, leaving 248 hexagonal yods (shown by yods in Figure
10). The square the geometrical symbol of the Pythagorean Tetrad thus generates the
dimension of E8 as well as its rank-4 exceptional subgroup F4. Indeed, the latter number is
also present in this representation as the number of hexagonal yods (!) in tetractyses at the
corners of the 2nd-order tetractyses that do not also belong to adjacent tetractyses.
Appendix D shows in general that an n-sided regular polygon divided into 2nd-order
tetractyses has 72n yods surrounding its centre (72 = 36th even integer, where 36 is sum of the
first 4 even integers and the first 4 odd integers). Of these, 10n yods are corners of 1st-order
tetractyses, leaving 62n hexagonal yods. The number of yods surrounding the centre of an
octagon = 728 = 576 = (4!)2

18

where

Of these, (108 = 80) yods are corners, where

leaving (576 80 = 496) hexagonal yods (notice that both 36 and 80 can be represented by
octagonal arrays of integers, the former consisting of the first 8 integers and the latter
consisting of the first 8 odd integers after 1). The octagon thus defines the dimension 496 of
E8E8, the direct product nature of the unified gauge symmetry group of superstrings
reflecting the fact that an octagon is generated from two identical squares by rotating one
relative to the other through an angle of 45o.
16) 496 AS A PERFECT NUMBER
The ancient Greeks classified numbers not only as even or odd, prime or composite, but also
as excessive, defective or perfect. In excessive (or superabundant) numbers the sum of the
divisors is larger than the number. In defective (or deficient) numbers, the sum is smaller than
the number. Perfect numbers are equal to the sum of their divisors. The last of the 36
propositions in Book IX of Euclid's Geometry asserts that, if (2n 1) is prime, then 2n-1(2n 1)
19

is a perfect number. This means that all perfect numbers of this form are even. In a work
published posthumously in 1849, the mathematician Lonard Euler proved the converse of
this proposition that all even perfect numbers are of the form given by Euclid. If the nth
Mersenne number Mn = 2n 1 is prime, then 2n-1 Mn is perfect (M1 = 1 is not regarded as a
prime number). The first four perfect numbers:
n

Mn

2n-1Mn

2
3
5
7

3
7
31
127

6
28
496
9128

were known to the ancient Greeks, the neo-Pythagorean Nichomachus being known to have
spent considerable time hunting for 496 and 8128.* 496 is therefore the third perfect number.
The first Mersenne number M1 = 1 does not define 1 as a perfect number because of the
convention that 1 is not regarded as a prime number. It is amusing that 496 would be the
fourth perfect number if this convention were not adopted, in agreement with the Tetrad
Principle that the Pythagorean Tetrad defines members of classes of numbers or mathematical
objects which have significance to the physics of nature. However, this principle is still upheld
because 496 is defined by n = 5, i.e., the fourth of the integers after 1, which the Pythagoreans
regarded not as a number but as the source of all numbers.
As the sum of its factors, 496 is
496 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 31 + 62 + 124 + 248.
Using the theorem (12) that the product of the factors, including itself, of the perfect number
P=2n-1Mn is Pn, we see that, of all perfect numbers, 496 (n = 5) is uniquely connected to the
Tetrad, 4, through its remarkable property:
4964 = (1+2+4+8+16+31+62+124+248)4 = 1248163162124248.
Also, since every perfect number except 6 is (13) a partial sum of the series:
13 + 33 + 53 + 73 + ....,
then 496 (= 13 + 33 + 53 + 73) is defined by the Tetrad because it is the sum of the first 4 terms
in this series.

Pythagoras biographer Iamblichus may have known the fifth perfect number 33550336, although he does not give it.
See reference 11, footnote, p. 74.
20

The ancient religious symbol of the pentagram provides a representation of the dimensions of
E8 and E8E8 (fig. 11). Notice in (b) that the first number is 24 = 42 and that the last number is
28 = 44. The square also provides a representation of the E8 group parameter 240:
24

25

240 =
27
26
This again illustrates the Tetrad Principle because 240 is the sum of four successive powers of
2, starting with 24 = 42, the fourth square number. Notice that 24 + 25 + 26 = 112, and that 27 =
128, the numbers of the two different types of non-zero roots of E8.
17) A pentagram array of the cubes of the integers 1, 2, 3 & 4 represents the number 496 (fig.12) .
Notice that the representation contains 16 (= 42) cubes.
18) A pentagon divided into tetractyses contains 31 yods, where 31 is the 4th Mersenne number
above 1 (fig. 13). 496 is the 31st triangular number:
496 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 31.
If we assign the 15 even integers 2, 4, ... 30 to the 15 yods on the boundary of the pentagon
and the 16 odd integers 1, 3, 5, ... 31 to the 16 internal yods, the sum of these 31 integers is
496, the sum of the interior integers is 256 (= 44) and the sum of the integers on the boundary
is 240 (= (1 + 2 + 3 + 4)4!) (fig. 14). Since 496 = 3116 = 3142, assigning the 4th square
number to each of the 31 yods in the pentagon generates the number 496 (fig. 15). The sum of
the 15 squares on the boundary is 240, the same as the sum of the 15 internal squares
surrounding the central integer 42 = 16. So, allocating the 4th square number to each of the 31
yods of a tetractys-divided pentagon not only generates the number of roots of E8E8 but also
differentiates between the number (16) of its zero roots and the number (240 + 240 = 480) of
its non-zero roots. Alternatively, if the 4th square 16 is assigned to the centre of a tetractysdivided pentagon and the 15 successive even integers 18, 20, 46 are assigned to the 15 yods
on its boundary, the sum of the (42 = 16) even integers that start with 16 is 496 (fig. 16).
Since
240 = 548 = 5(72 1) = 5(3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 13),
this number is the sum of the 30 odd integers surrounding the central integer 1 in a fivepointed array of consecutive odd integers (30 = 4th square pyramidal number) (fig. 17). As the
sum of the odd integers 3, 5, ... 13 in each point, the number 48 is the 7th highly composite
number (7 = 4th prime/odd number). It is the smallest integer to have 10 factors, including

21

unity and itself (14). It is thus defined by the Decad, called by the Pythagoreans All Perfect.
48 is further related to the number 240 because

is the sum of the first 48 odd integers after 1.

These examples demonstrate the Pythagorean mathematical nature of superstring theory in the
sense that they show that the group-theoretical parameters of E8E8, and E8 are prescribed by the
Tetrad Principle and find natural representation or expression in terms of the tetractys, the Tetrad
and the integers 1, 2, 3 & 4.

4. THE PLATONIC SOLIDS

It is well known that five and only five polyhedra with equi-distant corners can exist in
3-dimensional space. They are the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, icosahedron and dodecahedron
(fig. 18). The five regular polyhedra are known as the five Platonic solids, not because they were
discovered by the Greek philosopher Plato but because of the special emphasis he placed upon
them in expounding Pythagorean cosmology in his book Timaeus, where they were first described
in print.
The early Pythagoreans knew of all five polyhedra, for in the Fragments of Philolaus, regarded by
scholars as the earliest surviving (and therefore most reliable) Pythagorean text, Philolaus, a
TABLE II
Number of polyhedral corners = V.
Number of polyhedral sides = E.
Number of polyhedral faces = F.
Number of triangles in polyhedral face = I (I = 3 for tetrahedron, octahedron & icosahedron, = 4
for cube, = 5 for dodecahedron).
POLYHEDRON
Tetrahedron
Cube
Octahedron
Icosahedron
Dodecahedron

FACE

Triangle
Square
Triangle
Triangle
SUBTOTAL =
Pentagon
TOTAL =

4
8
6
12
30
20
50

6
12
12
30
60
30
90

4
6
8
20
38
12
50

3
4
3
3

22

student of Lysis, one of the two Pythagoreans who escaped the persecution of the Pythagorean
school at Croton in southern Italy, wrote that there are five bodies in the sphere: fire, water, earth,
air and the circle of the sphere which makes the fifth (15). The ancients believed that the
tetrahedron, cube, octahedron and icosahedron were the shapes of the atoms of, respectively, the
elements Fire, Earth, Air and Water, whilst the cosmic sphere containing the stars was made out of
the dodecahedron because the latter most resembled the perfect shape of the sphere.
TABLE III
Number of corners of triangles C = V + F.
Number of sides of triangles S = E + IF.
Number of triangles T = IF.
POLYHEDRON
Tetrahedron
Cube
Octahedron
Icosahedron
SUBTOTAL =
Dodecahedron
TOTAL =

C+S

C+S+T

8
14
14
32
68
32
100

18
36
36
90
180
90
270

12
24
24
60
120
60
180

26
50
50
122
248
122
370

38
74
74
182
368
182
550

Suppose that each triangular face of the tetrahedron, octahedron and icosahedron is divided into
three triangular sectors, the square faces of the cube are divided into four triangles and the
pentagonal faces of the dodecahedron are each divided into five triangular sectors (fig. 19). Table
II shows the number of corners, edges and faces in each solid. Table III shows the numbers of
corners, sides and triangles in their faces.
The five Platonic solids contain
13

23

10
10 10

100 =

10 10 10
10 10 10 10

43

33

corners of triangles and

550

55
55 55
55 55 55
55 55 55 55

23

(10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4)

triangles and their corners and sides, where

1
55

2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9 10

is the 10th triangular number (10 = 4th triangular number). The Tetrad and Decad therefore define
these geometrical parameters of the faces of the Platonic solids.
According to Table III, the tetrahedron the simplest regular polyhedron contains 26 corners
and sides, of which 4 are polyhedral corners, 6 are polyhedral edges and 16 are corners and sides
created by the division of its faces into triangles. Compare this with the requirement in bosonic
string theory that the 26 dimensions of space-time consist of the 4 dimensions of Einsteins spacetime, the 6 higher compactified dimensions of superstrings and the 16 higher purely bosonic string
dimensions. We see that the faces of the tetrahedron embody numbers defining the dimensional
bifurcation of the string. This is an example of how the Tetrad Principle defines a physical
parameter of nature, for the tetrahedron has 4 corners and 4 faces. Table III shows that 248 points
and lines are needed to construct out of 120 triangles (120 = sum of squares of the first 4 even
integers) the 38 faces of the 4 Platonic solids symbolising Earth, Air, Fire and Water (38 = 19th
even number, 19 = 10th odd integer, 10 = 4th triangular number). The number of gauge bosons
mediating superstring forces is thus the minimal number of geometrical elements required to
define the triangle-divided surfaces of the first 4 regular polyhedra. Notice that the number of their
polyhedral corners is:
12

22

42

32

30 =

the number of polyhedral corners and edges delineating their faces is

9
9 9
90

9 9 9
9 9 9 9

where 9 is the 4th odd integer after 1, and that the number of their corners, edges and faces is
128 = 27 = (4 4th prime number)1/2.

24

Now consider each triangle in the faces of the Platonic solids to be a Pythagorean Triangle or
tetractys, so that 4 yods lie along each polyhedral edge (fig. 19). Table IV shows the various yod
populations of the regular polyhedra. The tetrahedron has 56 yods, where 56 = 78 (7 = 4th
prime/odd integer, 8 = 4th even integer), of which 8 yods are corners of tetractyses, 16 yods lie on
its edges (16 = 4th square number) and 48 yods are hexagonal yods (48 = 7th highly composite
number, 7 = 4th prime/odd number). Once again, the Tetrad defines these properties.
TABLE IV
Number of yods on faces of polyhedron N = V + 2E + (3I + 1)F.
Number of corners of tetractyses C = V + F.
Number of hexagonal yods H = N C = 2E + 3IF.
Number of yods on edges of polyhedron B = V +2E.
POLYHEDRON
Tetrahedron
Cube
Octahedron
Icosahedron
SUBTOTAL =
Dodecahedron
TOTAL =

56
110
110
272
548
272
820

16
32
30
72
150
80
230

8
14
14
32
68
32
100

48
96
96
240
480
240
720

The cube and octahedron each has 110 yods, where

110 =

2
4 6
8 10 12
14 16 18 20

and the icosahedron and dodecahedron each has 272 yods, where
2

10 12 14 16
272 =
18 20 22 24
26 28 30 32
The first 4 Platonic solids have

548

137

137

137

137

25

240

yods, where 137 (the average number of yods in the first 4 polyhedra) is the 33rd prime number
(33 = 1! + 2! + 3! + 4!). Of these,

68

17

17

17

17

yods are corners of tetractyses, where 17 (the average number of corners) is the 7th prime number
(7= 4th prime/odd number), and

480

25

26

28

27

yods are hexagonal. As the 4th regular polyhedron the icosahedron has

240

24

25

27

26

such yods in its 60 tetractyses, we find that the first 4 regular polyhedra have 480 hexagonal yods
in their 120 tetractyses (120 = 22 + 42 + 62 + 82), the fourth one having 240 such yods. The
superstring gauge group E8E8 has 480 non-zero roots and E8 has 240 such roots. A remarkable
correspondence thus exists between these roots and the degrees of freedom symbolised by
hexagonal yods generated by the construction of the faces of the first 4 Platonic solids from
tetractyses.

6. CONCLUSION
The symbol of the Pythagorean paradigm of wholeness the tetractys has manifested in
particle physics as the 10-dimensional space-time predicted by superstring theory. However, this
representation of the Pythagorean Decad is but the most rudimentary example of a powerful Tetrad
Principle governing the form of the mathematical description of subatomic reality. Many examples
have been given in the context of superstring theory and bosonic string theory of how the number

26

4 plays a pivotal role in defining classes (and members of classes) mathematical objects that
parameterise the physics of these fundamental (and as yet hypothetical) particles. Whilst
coincidence might account for a few of these, the weight of evidence for the principle accumulated
in this article renders such an explanation highly implausible. This is particularly so since the
Tetrad Principle has been shown to define superstring and bosonic string parameters not only for a
narrow range of numbers but also for mathematical objects that at first sight would seem most
unlikely to have relevance to superstring theory, namely, the regular polyhedra, for the first four of
which the dimension of E8 is embodied purely geometrically in their triangle-divided faces, whilst
group parameters of E8 and E8E8 appear in the yod population of their tetractys-divided faces.
Such evidence of beautiful mathematics points towards the existence of a conceptual scheme in
which the Pythagorean paradigm of the tetractys has a central place. From the perspective of this
more general theory, the theories of superstrings and bosonic strings would then be seen to be just
examples of how the Tetrad Principle determines the mathematics of the microphysical version of
this universal theory of whole systems. This true Theory of Everything is the mystical Kabbalah.
Its relevance to particle physics is explored comprehensively in my book The Image of God in
Matter, to be published soon by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

REFERENCES
1. Theon of Smyrna, in Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato, R. & D. Lawlor, tr.
(Wizards Bookshelf, San Diego, 1979).
2. Stobaeus, Eclog. Physic., i. 21, 7b.
3. Aristotle, Metaphysics, A5, 986a16.
4. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Phanes Press, Michigan,
1987), p. 28.
5. R.C. Brower, Phys. Rev. D6, 1655 (1972); P. Goddard & C.B. Thorn, Phys. Lett. 40B, 235
(1972).
6. P. Goddard, J. Goldstone, C. Rabbi & C.B. Thorn, Nucl. Phys. B56, 109 (1973).
7. P.G. O. Freund, Phys. Lett. 151B, 387 (1985).
8. Aristotle, Physics 203 a 10.
9. M.B. Green & J.H. Schwarz, Phys. Lett. 149B, 117 (1984).
10. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Phanes Press, Michigan,
1987), p. 322.
11. Thomas Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics (Oxford, 1921), vol. 1, footnote, p. 74.

27

12. David Wells, The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers (Penguin Books,
London, 1986), p. 108.
13. David Wells, The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers (Penguin Books,
London, 1986), p. 108.
14. David Wells, The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers (Penguin Books,
London, 1986), Table 8.
15. Iamblichus, The Life of Pythagoras, in The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, Kenneth
Sylvan Guthrie (Phanes Press, Michigan, 1987), p. 174.
APPENDIX A
PROOF OF PNn = [(N2)n (N4)]
The representation of PNn consists of the superimposition of (n1) regular polygons with 2,3,4, ... n
dots along each of their N edges. The rth polygon has r dots per edge. The total number of dots in
(n1) separate polygons is

Of these, there are

2 + 3 + 4 + ... + (n1) = n(n+1) 1
dots along one set of edges and
1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (n1) = n(n1)
dots along the set of adjacent edges. The total number of shared dots when the polygons are
superimposed is
n(n+1) 1 + n(n1) = n2 1.
The total number of unshared yods is
nN(n1) (n21) = n[(N2)n N] + 1.
Superimposed, the (n1) polygons have n dots along one shared edge and (n1) dots along the
adjacent shared edge. Hence the total number of dots in the representation is
PNn = (n1) + n + n[(N2)n N] + 1
= n[(N2)n (N4)]
.
28

APPENDIX B
The nth hexagonal number is
Hn = n(4n2) = 2n2 n.
The nth triangular number is
Tn = n(n+1).
Therefore
Tn-1 = n(n1).
4Tn-1 = 2n(n1) = 2n2 2n = Hn n.
Therefore,
Hn = 4Tn-1 + n.
APPENDIX C
When divided into 3 tetractyses, each sector of an n-sided regular polygon contains 19 yods, of
which 15 are hexagonal (fig. 20). 2 hexagonal yods on each of 2 sides of the sector are shared with
adjacent sectors. Each of the n sectors therefore contributes 13 hexagonal yods. Number of
hexagonal yods in polygon H(n) = 13n.
APPENDIX D
There are 85 yods in each sector of an n-sided regular polygon divided into n 2nd-order
tetractyses. Of these, 13 yods on each of 2 sides are shared with adjacent sectors. Number of yods
per sector surrounding centre of polygon = 85 13 = 72. Number of yods surrounding centre of
n-sided polygon = 72n. Each sector has 15 corners of 1st-order tetractyses, of which 5 corners on
each of 2 sides are shared with adjacent sectors. Number of tetractys corners per sector
surrounding centre of polygon = 15 5 = 10. Number of tetractys corners surrounding centre of
n-sided polygon = 10n.

29

TRIANGULAR NUMBER

SQUARE NUMBER

21

36
Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3
30

etc

0th-order
tetractys
(T0)

1st-order
tetractys
(T1)

2nd-order
tetractys
(T2)
Figure 4

= Macroscopic spatial dimension

= Microscopic spatial dimension
= Time dimension

Figure 5

NUMBER OF:
POINTS

LINES

TRIANGLES TETRAHEDRA

TOTAL

TOTAL =

Figure 6

31

Number of combinations = 2n 1

Combinations

G H

F
I

B, C, BC

D, E, F, DE, DF, EF

H, I, GH, GI, GJ, HI, HJ, IJ,

GHI, GHJ, IJ, HIJ, GHIJ

15
TOTAL = 26

Figure 7

Figure 8

32

Figure 9

Figure 10

33

248 =

496 =

Figure 11

13

33

73

53

496 =

23

27

24

248 =
Figure 12

26
34

25

Figure 13

Figure 14

35

Figure 15

Figure 16

36

Figure 17

37

tetrahedron

cube

octahedron

icosahedron

dodecahedron

Figure 18

38

Figure 19

hexagonal yod

Figure 20

39