J. PAUL GETTY: BILLIONAIRE BY THE NUMBERS.

J. Paul Getty's life was a numbers game. In Getty's world, everything had its price, and the question ``How much?'' was seldom far from his lips.

Getty, one might say, knew the cost of everything: oil fields, artworks, even personal relationships. According to an official Getty Center history, J. Paul and his mother ``were antagonists as well as partners'' when it came to managing the family business after Getty's father's death.

Here's a rundown of some of J. Paul Getty's most significant, and tragic, numbers:

Amount Getty paid in 1915 for the rights to the Oklahoma oil field that made him a millionaire for the first time: $500

Amount he paid in 1930 for his first significant art purchase, a 17th-century Dutch landscape: $1,100

Number of years Getty spent in Tulsa, Okla., supervising the production of Allied aircraft during World War II: 4

Number of rooms in Getty's Tudor manor in Surrey, England: 72

Number of qualities Getty said were required for success: 35 (He didn't say what these qualities were.)

Number of Getty's marriages: 5

Number of Getty's divorces: 5

Number of Getty's sons: 5

Number of sons who died in childhood: 1

Number of sons who died under circumstances indicating suicide: 1

Amount demanded in ransom for the kidnapping of Getty's grandson in 1973: $3.2 million

Number of Getty autobiographies: 2

Number of books by Getty, including autobiographies, still in print: 1 (``How to be Rich'')

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Photo

PHOTO J. Paul Getty with his dogs at Sutton Place.

Photo courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust