Herigone's mnemonic system

Pierre Hérigone (1580-1643) was a French mathematician and astronomer and devised a system for substituting numbers for letters which can be combined to form words and associated together in a sentence or a narrative allowing them to be more easily memorised.

This Mnemonic system is based on phonemes (sounds which have similar sounds and which are used to form words, e.g. P and B for 9). Not all letters are used, for instance the vowels and the letters W,H and Y (spelling "why") are not.

Description

It is easier to remember "qualitatively" different objects than to recall different numeric "quantities" so for most people it would be easier to remember 3.1415927 as:

Short term visual memory of imagined scenes allows large numbers of digits to be memorized with ease, though only usually for a short time.

Whilst this is unwieldy at first, with practice it can become a very effective technique.

Longer-term memory may require the formulation of more object-related mnemonics with greater logical connection, perhaps forming grammatical sentences that apply to the matter rather than just strings of images.This is harder to accomplish but some technical assistance may be gained in this pursuit with recourse to computer software such as the freeware "2Know" [ [http://www.got2know.net/2Know/ 2Know Mnemonic Software ] ] .

The entire code is given by: "pSeuDoNuMeRoLoGy, i GiVe uP!" = 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 [ [http://folk.ntnu.no/krill/18.htm Learn to Pseudospell now! ] ] .

Practice

Memory feats centred around numbers can be performed by experts who have learned a 'vocabulary' of at least 1 image for every 1 and 2 digit words which can be combined to form narratives. (To learn a vocabulary of 3 digit numbers would be much harder because for each extra digit 10 times more images need to be learned and, in any case, a large number of them cannot be formed into real words). Combination of images into a narrative is easier to do rapidly than is forming a coherent, grammatical sentence. This pre-memorisation and practice at forming images reduces the time required to think up a good imaginary object and create a strong memorable impression of it. The best words for this purpose are usually nouns, especially those for distinctive objects which make a strong impression on a variety of senses (e.g. a "Lime" for 53, it's taste, its smell, its colour and even its texture are distinctive) or which move (like an "arrow" for 44).For basic proficiency a large vocabulary of image words isn't really necessary since, when the table above is reliably learned, it is easy to form your own words ad hoc.

Indexing Sequences

Mnemonics often centre around learning a complete sequence where all objects in that sequence that come before the one you are trying to recall must be recalled first. For instance, if you were using the mnemonic "Richard of York gave battle in vain" for the colours of the rainbow; (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) to remember what colour comes after indigo you would have recall the whole sequence. For a short sequence this isn't a big deal but for longer sequences this could take some time and you may be in danger of getting mixed up on the way.A good example would be in recalling what is the 53rd element of the periodic table. It might be possible for some people to construct and then learn a string of 53 or more items which you have substituted for the elements and then to recall them one by one, counting them off as you go, but it would be a "great deal easier" and less laborious/tedious to "directly" associate element 53 with, for example, a lime (a suitable mnemonic for 53) recalling some prior imagining of yours regarding a mishap where lime juice gets into one's eye - "eye" sounding like "I", the symbol for "Iodine". If you were remembering element 53 in the process of recalling the periodic table you could then recall an image for 54, for instance thinking of a friend called "Laura" (54) in the lotus position looking very Zen-like in order to remind yourself that element 54 is "Xenon".

References

"Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions" Martin Gardner, publisher Penguin ISBN 01402 0748 1.