How the compatibility score is built — weighting four methods
updated · 6 min read
The reading takes four points of view from two dates of birth and two names: the day stem of the Four Pillars, the principal star of Nine Star Ki, the personality number from the name, and the life path number from numerology. A match is judged on each.
All four appear on screen as they are. The score is the figure that gathers them.
The four are not weighted equally
The four carry weights. They are not of equal consequence, because how much information each brings to a match differs.
| Point of view | What it reads | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Four Pillars | The relation between the elements of the day stems | 40% |
| Nine Star Ki | The relation between the elements of the principal stars | 25% |
| Name strokes | The element taken from the personality number | 20% |
| Numerology | The pairing of the three life path groups | 15% |
The Four Pillars carries the most because the day stem is taken to be the person themselves, the central element. Of the three methods worked from a date of birth, it is also handled in the finest detail.
Numerology is lightest because nine numbers are gathered into three groups. With a coarser division, equal weight would flatten the differences.
Where either name is written in the Latin alphabet, the name reading cannot be produced. Its weight is then shared out across the other three rather than counted as zero, and the result says so.
Why not a simple average
At first the four were simply averaged. Testing it, 78 per cent of results landed in the seventies, and the whole range ran only from 62 to 86.
That is a state where everyone gets much the same score, which makes comparing with a friend pointless. An average pulling toward the centre is what statistics does.
| With a simple average | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| Range of scores | 62 to 86 | 40 to 96 |
| Share in the seventies | 78% | Spread out |
| How it reads | Every match looks the same | Differences are visible |
So the range the weighted figure can actually take is stretched out to a displayed 40 to 96. The order and the relative sizes are unchanged; what was bunched into a narrow band is simply spread to a legible width.
The score is a scale for comparing, not an absolute verdict. Sixty does not mean someone is bad; it says roughly where within 40 to 96 the pairing sits.
Judged on the five elemental relations
Three of the four points of view end in a relation between elements. Which of wood, fire, earth, metal and water stand together settles the kind of relation.
There are five kinds: the same element; you produce them; they produce you; you check them; they check you.
Being checked is not treated as bad. A restraining force is at work, and in some relationships it comes out well, as tension. Even the lowest of the five kinds starts from fifty-eight.
Numerology alone uses no elements, sorting the life path numbers into independent, steady and expressive. Mixing in one different measure means the same material is seen from another angle.
The text below the score is the useful part
A score is gathered into one number, which drops the circumstances that produced it. What is worth reading is the text attached to each of the four points of view.
Within the same sixty-something, whether you are the one pushing too hard or the one falling in with their pace changes what distance to keep. The score does not show that difference.
A match also changes with which relationship you read it as. The five kinds — friends, colleagues, senior, junior, romantic — are offered precisely so the same arrangement can be reconsidered.
Note: the person asking questions in this article is fictional. This is not a record of a real consultation.
Common questions
- Does swapping the two of us change the score?
- It can. The elemental relations have direction, and which side checks which changes the reading. Looking at a relationship with a direction in it, the result depends on whose side you read from.
- What score counts as a good match?
- No threshold is set. The score shows roughly where in the range a pairing sits; there is no pass mark. Use the text as your material instead.
- Is the other person's information sent to a server?
- It is not. The whole calculation runs inside your own device. The name and date of birth you enter never leave it and are not stored.