Found this info on the DTI group on FB and thought it was pretty good insight. The guy is a mathfag.

“When things are placed in brackets, they represent an absolute value. In this case, the #5, and not S or anything else.

[44] = 44, not 4+4=8; [John] = the name, nothing else, it is direction that the bracketed items mean exactly what's in them, and we are to look for them as they are.”