"

 E pluribus unum = 13 letters 

Symbolically, the phrase E pluribus unum has 13 letters (as does annuit coeptis). This example of gematria (isopsephy) then represents the 13 colonies becoming the United States. The back of the US 2010 penny features E pluribus unum and a shield with 13 vertical stripes. The back of the US dollar includes these 13 letters among 13 symbolic references to the number 13. - p. 121, The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill by David Ovason (Harper Collins, 2004)

The ancient practice of Hebrew gematria/Greek isopsephy/Arabic gematria (and modern Simple[6,74] English[7,74] Gematria[8,74]) appears to primarily concentrate on the gematric sums of words/names, i.e. Sargon=74 (S19+a1+r18g7+o15+n14). But this is actually 'Step 2' of gematria(74). 'Step 1' of gematria(8) is simply counting the number of letters in a word/name/phrase. Because of Latin Numerals not coinciding with their place in the Latin Alphabet, i.e. I does not = 1, Latin Gematria never gave much importance to Step 2 of gematric sum. But the learned Romans and other learned practioners of Latin did recognize Step 1 of counting the Latin letters and giving significance to it. This example of counting the number of letters and giving it importance and can be traced back to Plato's use of ""God is ever a geometer"", which in Greek - equals 3,1,4,1,5,9 or 3.14159 pi. - Brad Watson, Miami, FL 64.136.26.22  "