BuTteR = 914

Find numbers difficult to remember? 
There’s help at hand

Why are numbers so difficult to remember? Because our brain thinks with pictures not with numbers. But if you are particularly bad at memorizing them, perhaps you could try the phonetic system devised by Stanislaus Mink von Wennsshein in the 17th century. 

Because it is easier to remember an image rather than a number like 9256738950, this system converts a number into a word or phrase that forms an image in your mind. The conversion is done by phonetics: certain consonant sounds represent certain numbers and vowels act as fillers. 

So each of the digits from 0 through 9 is assigned a consonant that can be used to form a word that can then be used to form an association and be memorised easily.

This is the standardized mnemonic system used by memory experts, and once this chart is memorized, it can be used for life!

• 0    s, z, soft c     “zero” starts with Z
• 1    t, d     T has one downstroke,
•         d has similar sound
• 2    n     N has two downstrokes
• 3    m     M has three downstrokes
• 4    r     “four” ends with R
• 5    l     in Roman numerals, L = 50
• 6    j, ch, sh, g (soft)     J reversed looks like a 6
• 7    k, c, g (hard)     K can be drawn with two 7’s
• 8    f, v, ph    handwritten F looks like an 8
• 9    p, b     P reversed looks like a 9

Some Rules
The alphabet is strictly phonetic. So the word “rough” should be thought of as RuF and translated into 48.

Repeat letters are not counted. So “BuTteR” translates into B, T and R (only one T) = 914.
Vowels are always ignored, as well as the three consonant sounds W, H and Y. The long word “wheeL” for example, contains just one useful letter: L.

Note that pairs of letters have been grouped together because of their phonetic similarity, such as t and d or p and b. If you are not familiar with phonetics, whisper the word “dog.” Notice that it sounds like “tok”. This is how you can tell which sounds are phonetically similar. 

Take a few minutes to memorize the number alphabet. Write groups of letters in random order on a piece of paper and try to come up with their number. You are now ready to memorize almost any kind of number. 

Once you have selected a word or phrase that represents your number (vivid nouns work better than adjectives or verbs), the last step is to make an association between the words you selected and what you are trying to remember. As emphasised in earlier columns, don’t pick regular, everyday associations. The more bizarre or animated the association, the better you will remember it. 

For example, if you are trying to remember that the number of bones in a hand is 27, convert the number 27 into the word INK. Now associate the word INK with a hand: imagine breaking a pen and ink squirting all over your hands. Don’t think of a little ink - think of a cloudburst of ink pouring onto your hands and spilling onto the floor, eventually covering the whole room. 

Longer numbers can be broken up into two or three such sets. If you want to explore this system further do check out http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTIM_07.htm.

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Thought for the Week

“Discipline is remembering what you want.”
David Campbell
(Music arranger, composer & conductor, 1608-1674)
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First published in Gray Matter - The Hindustan Times