How To Easily Remember Any Number
Is it really possible to remember any number? Imagine that you are preparing for a competition where you aim to write as many digits of π(pi) as possible. You know that pi = 3.14, but you don’t know anything after that. There is one week to prepare for a competition, where your whole family will watch you. You don’t want to be embarrassed, so you commit and try and learn as much as possible.
So, how to remember as much as you can in the limited time you have?
For those who think they would never find themselves in such a scenario use your imagination. Just think about how impressed others would be by your skills and… well I guess that is about all there is to it.
Let’s stop our ridiculous story here and focus on something useful (at least for now). While memorizing digits of pi might not be that useful there are plenty of cases where remembering numbers can be pretty helpful.
Just think of all the times when you were asked to remember how long something is, or how old something is. What about remembering years in which certain events happened?
Most people repeat the numbers to themselves until they remember them but this method has two limitations. The first one is that there are only so many numbers you can remember. If you are studying something from history (World War 2, for example), you would have to remember several events, that all happened in different years.
The more events you learn the higher the chances you mix up the years and write the wrong answer. The second problem is that you can only remember those numbers for a short period of time. Even if you have an excellent memory, I bet you wouldn’t remember all of those numbers after one to two weeks have passed.
Is there a better method than repeating the numbers until I remember them?
I am glad you asked. There are probably a few methods that work, but there is no need to learn all of them. After all, you just need one method. Let’s start with the two methods I have the most success with.
Both methods have the same concept: People remember words and images more easily than numbers. So we have to find a way to convert the numbers into words and images to remember them more easily.
How do I do that?
I am so glad you want to learn. Let’s start right this second.
The first method I use is to think of an image of associated with all of the numbers from 0 to 99. For example:
Number 0 is an image of a ball because it reminds me of a ball.
Number 6 is an image of a dice because it has 6 sides.
25 is a tomato because it reminds me of a Pomodoro timer where a session lasts 25 minutes.
Number 47 is a silver medal because the atomic number of silver is 47 (at least according to Google).
The images you visualise should be something you can easily remember. Your images could be different from mine if that helps you to remember the numbers.
So, what is the point of turning all of these numbers into images?
Let’s say that you have to remember the full date when World War 1 started: July 28. 1914 (I swear I don’t like World Wards, they are just used as examples). You can convert July into the number 7 and then make an 8-digit number 07281914 (I like to put 0 in front of single-digit numbers when I use this method, but it is up to you whether you copy me or not).
Now you substitute numbers with images you made like this:
- 07 – Bed
- 28 – Domino
- 19 – Airplane
- 14 – Chocolate
Now we are at the final step, which is to visualise everything together and make something you can easily remember. For this example, you can think of a bed, under which there is a domino. When you look at the domino there is an airplane made out of chocolate.
If I remember this sequence, the next time someone asks me when World War 1 started I can replace images with numbers and know the full date. What’s even better is that there are still ways you could improve this whole visualisation.
If you want to remember that this is a date specifically for World War 1, you could think that there is a unarmed soldier in the bed, who doesn’t know that the war is about to start. This is a reminder that this date is the start of war.
What if you think of a chocolate airplane, rather than an airplane made of chocolate?
What is the problem there, it’s important that it’s made out of chocolate, right😃? In all seriousness, if you remember the chocolate airplane, that means you are thinking of the year 1419 and not 1914 like you are supposed to.
While I am sure most of us know that World War 1 didn’t start in the 15 century, it could get trickier with some other dates. In this case, you could imagine a piece of chocolate in an airplane. That way you know that airplane comes before the chocolate and remember the correct year (1914).
The first time I saw this method was from a YouTube video, which you can check out here.
If you want to use this method, but can’t think of an image for a number, here is a solution.
Don’t think too hard.
Some of the images I have for some numbers are absurd, just like number 19, which is an airplane. The reason is that the longest flight I heard about was 19 hours. I don’t even know if this is true but I still think of an airplane whenever I hear number 19.
Want an even weirder example?
How about number 89 which is a dinosaur? And the reason? I honestly don’t even remember it. I definitely knew the reason when I made the connection, but now I can’t seem to recall it. And I don’t need to. The most important thing is that I remember that the number 89 represents a dinosaur and anything else is irrelevant.
* * * * *
The second method is similar to the first one. Instead of images, this time you assign a sound to each number and then make words from those sounds. Before you start panicking, you only need to remember the sounds for 10 numbers (digits 0-9). The name of this method is the major system, although I heard some people call it the peg system.
Anyway, the name isn’t important, it’s important that it works. So let’s see how it works.
First, you assign a sound (or sounds) to each digit. I saw many variations of this method, but like with most things, I made my own that suits me:
| 0 | s, z |
| 1 | t, d |
| 2 | n |
| 3 | m |
| 4 | r |
| 5 | l |
| 6 | g, j |
| 7 | k, c |
| 8 | f, v |
| 9 | p, b |
There is usually a “ch” and a “ch” sound (they are written the same, but apparently sound different) assigned for numbers 6 and 7, but I hate how similar they sound so I removed them. If you want to add a “ch” sound I recommend doing it for just one number. The same goes for “soft g” and “hard g” sounds.
If you can easily tell apart these differences then by all means use all of these sounds. I just find it hard for me so I changed the system to better suit me. You can watch how a normal major system works in this video. After some trial and error, you can change the system so it fits you better.
Here is a list of changes I made:
- As I said before, I removed the “ch”, “soft g” and “hard g” sounds because they sound too similar to me
- I added the “c” sound to the number 7 because I removed 2 sounds from it
- Lastly, I added some sounds from my mother language (which I won’t write here since they aren’t of any use to an English speaker)
Most of these changes probably don’t make sense for anyone but me. It might have to do with the fact that English is my second language but I don’t really know.
Now that you have your system ready let’s see how to use it. Let’s use the same example as before, date July 28. 1914. Again we can write this date as 7281914 (with this method I don’t put 0 in front of 7 because it adds extra sounds I don’t need). You can divide the number into 3 smaller ones: 728, 19 and 14.
Now look at the table above and replace the numbers with the sounds and make words with those sounds. Before you look at how I did it try it for yourself and see how you compare. Here are my words:
728 – KNiFe
19 – TiP
14 – DooR
Now again, you visualise everything together and make something easy to remember. In my case, I think about a knife who asked for a tip from the door.
Sounds absurd doesn’t it?
That is the point. The more absurd and unimaginable it is, the easier it is to remember. Look at the date July 28. 1914. Now think about a knife giving a tip to the door. You can tell me what is easier to remember.
Just like in the previous example, you can think of an untrained soldier who is holding a knife to remember what the date is for. Alternatively, you can remember something that reminds you of World War 1. The more personalised and absurd it is, the easier it is to remember.
Here is a recommendation: Think of a window that looks like number 1. Because it starts and ends with W and looks like number 1 it can remind you of WW1.
Now you should be equipped with everything you need to remember any number.
Can I really remember any number with just these methods?
You can try and tell me. Sure, it takes a bit of time to start. If you use the first method you need to remember 100 images, and for the second one, you need to remember the table you saw. But once you do (more like if you do, am I right?), remembering numbers will be as easy as it gets (whatever that means).
Before you start learning anything let me tell you how to choose the method for you. The first method takes more time. You have to make 100 images for every number and then spend time learning all of them. The benefit is that you can think of images really fast, so it’s ideal if you have to remember a number that you see or hear for a short amount of time.
The major system is better if you want to remember long numbers while being much easier to learn. The downside is that you have to make words with sounds every time you want to remember a new number. And I don’t know about you but making words out of sounds isn’t exactly my favourite thing to do.
Despite that, my personal recommendation is the major system, but as always If you think the first method suits you better, by all means, go for it.
Now you have everything you need to crush your opponents in that pi competition (or whatever it is called). Although, if you just want to make your studying easier I have no problem with that either.
Remember:
Remembering numbers is easier if you turn the number into a picture.
One way to do that is to remember 100 pictures for numbers 0 to 99 and visualise them together to make bigger numbers.
The other way is to remember a sound for each of the digits (0 – 9) and make words with those sounds.
After trying these methods, you can change them to better suit your needs.
