This mathematical structure is correlated with a symbolic meaning, and in the case of some Adinkra symbols, with a proverb which encapsulates its symbolism. The system, therefore, employs visual symbols which demonstrate aesthetic value, symbolic significance which embodies philosophical values which are either social or metaphysical, or both, and at times, as with Kuntunkantan, also explicit mathematical significance. Various disciplinary forms, various styles of developing and interpreting forms, ideas and phenomena are thereby integrated within one symbol. The same idea or conception is therefore expressed in terms of different but related expressive techniques.

Ifa also realises a similar integration of interdisciplinary strategies in developing its ideas since it uses graphic signs, lines, in correlation with verbal expression, poetry and narratives, in the organisation of the system. A particular graphic symbol is correlated with a corpus of poems and narratives which represent its symbolic significance. These literary forms are themselves embodiments of the philosophical conceptions that underlie the system. The graphic signs are organised in terms of units of one and two, which are developed in term of the first superordinate unit of sixteen units. This is a hexadecimal structure, where the basic unit of numeration is sixteen rather than the contemporary widespread use of ten, The development of the complete structure of two hundred and fifty six patterns or lines patterns from the initial sixteen lines follows a logical progression that operates in term of the aggregation of increasingly complex units from base, a base represented by the basic underlying number of two. In Ifa, therefore, mathematical structure is correlated with verbal expressions which embodies philosophical and religious ideas and practices. In addition, the system is also related to the explicit use of sculptural forms, such as the divining tray, that subsume within their iconographic framework, the ideas realized in the philosophical and religious thrust of the system.

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