Best way to commit a 1000-element number/image association system to memory?

General Memory Chat
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I finally finished composing a 1000-element system (based on the major system), and I’m wondering what would be the best way to commit it to memory. The goal is to be able to go from any given number to the corresponding image within half a second or so.

I currently have all the numbers in an anki deck. I’ve used anki with great success for learning languages, but I’m not sure it lends itself quite as nicely here (and several days practicing seems to confirm this). I was thinking about using memory palaces instead–maybe dividing the task into 10 palaces, each with 100 elements.

I was just hoping to get some input, ideally from somebody who’s done this or something similar successfully. Does using memory palaces pose any issue with eliciting information quickly?

How do I memorize a mnemonic number or card system?
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All right, so my plan is to memorize the first 100 image/number pairs using a memory palace and then practice using it for several days to see how quickly I can elicit them. Whatever I find here I’ll extrapolate to the remaining 900. Basically, if at that time it looks like using memory palaces will work, then I’ll continue, and if not I’ll try something else. I just finished memorizing the first 50 tonight, and I’ll do the next 50 tomorrow. Recall time is currently around 2 seconds, but I think it’s way too early to mean anything. I guess I’ll keep posting with my progress. Any comments are welcome.

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You might also be interested in these scripts for generating practice numbers:

I used to print up a few sheets and carry them around in my pocket to practice reading the numbers as images.

1 Like
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That’s perfect. It’s a little too early to use right now, but I knew I’d need something like this down the road (in the not-too-distant future).

edit Okay, I just finished memorizing the next 50, so I’m currently at 100. I’ve never tried using a memory palace before and I’m honestly astonished at how effective it is. I blew through those 50 very quickly, and recalling them now in order is effortless. Also, selective recall from within the previous 50 is down to around 1 second now.

I might decide to just learn 100 a week, dividing it roughly into thirds over three days. Doing that, it would take me 9 weeks to learn the rest. I think I’m done for today. The next two days will be very telling.

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I learned 50 yesterday and 50 more today, putting my total at 200. I’ve been off work the past few days and I go back tomorrow, so maintaining this pace will be difficult. For now I’m going to see if I can continue doing 50 a day on all my days off, and I’ll do whatever I can on the days that I work.
Also, the prospect of very fast recall seems likely. The memory palaces seem to serve as a shortcut to solidifying images/numbers in memory, like a scaffolding system that’s eventually unnecessary.
My goal is really close now. It’s the culmination of months of work and a truly obscene amount of time (for creating the images and words).

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Just an update. I’m currently at 601. Initially I was reviewing all entries daily, but now that the number has become pretty large, I’ve been using spaced repetition. I’ll probably do a complete review tomorrow, along with adding at least 25 more.

I’ve also been considering applying a sort of PAO adaptation to my system and associating each action with a particular prefix. For instance, an object melting might correspond to 03, with a prefix of meh~. In this case, meh-alchemy would then be 03,000 + 573 = 03,573, and the image would be that of an alchemist melting.

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Yes, it can be very helpful for learning to put the 1000 images of the Major System to loci. I have done the same at the beginning, along with a variation of Erols Shaper System. You just have to be careful not to imagine the loci along with the number image every time because this will slow you down when putting the images to other loci.

I have also written a short program some time ago that shows the numbers only for a certain period of time. Maybe it could be useful for you.

#include<stdio.h> #include<stdlib.h> #include<time.h> #include<unistd.h>

const int LEARNED = 100;
const int NUMBERS_TO_SHOW = 500;
const int EXPOSURE_TIME = 333333;

int main()
{
   int i=0;
   srand(time(NULL));

   for(i=0; i<NUMBERS_TO_SHOW; i++)
   {
     system(“clear”);
     printf(“\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t”);

     printf("%03d ", rand()%LEARNED);

     printf(“\n”);
     usleep(EXPOSURE_TIME);
     /* getchar(); */
   }
   return 0;
}

You can compile it e.g. with Cygwin on MS Windows:

  1. Download and install Cygwin. Make sure to install gcc
  2. Open the 'Cygwin Terminal' from your start menu
  3. Create a new file by typing in 'touch major.c' (without apostrophes)
  4. Go to your home directory, which should be C:/cygwin/home/yourusername
  5. Open major.c with Wordpad
  6. Copy the code into the file and save
  7. Compile the program: Type 'gcc -o major major.c' into the terminal
  8. Run the program: Type './major.exe' into the terminal
  9. Enjoy!

Run again by typing ‘./major.exe’ into the terminal. You can always change the settings (LEARNED etc.) in the file according to your needs, then compile again before running. They could look like this (exposure time is given in microseconds):

const int LEARNED = 601;
const int NUMBERS_TO_SHOW = 150;
const int EXPOSURE_TIME = 2000000;

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I made a html version that can also do cards. Feel free to use it. You can download it here:

If anyone can recommend a good free web hoster for Html+CSS+Javascript, please let me know. It looks like this for Numbers:


major_card_show_screenshot_02.jpg
major_card_show_screenshot_02.jpg673×532 23.1 KB


Two Cards option:
Screenshot.jpg
Screenshot.jpg674×533 32.8 KB
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Thanks Finwing for the resources. Those are useful tools. :slight_smile:

I’m just posting with an update. Since I made this thread, I think it would be poor etiquette to neglect it. Anyway, unfortunately, I’ve decided to modify my plans. Originally when I made this system, I only had an interest in numbers, but now I’ve also decided to incorporate cards and binary. While I’m not sure how binary would work, there are ways to tweak this system to accommodate cards. Considering, however, that my system is new, I thought it would be more efficient to just start over.

My new system is a 2-card (10 binary-digit) block system, based off the Ben system. Luckily, apart from the vowels, the phonetics are similar, and I have also been able to salvage many of the images from my old system, many without even changing the phonetics (instead, the word is simply truncated). The system requires 1586 images. 1352 images are used for cards, and 1000 images for digits (+ binary). The 1586 comes from the fact that some images encode cards but not numbers, while others encode numbers but not cards. I could, of course, reduce this number to 1352, but then I would have to make exceptions to the grammar. It’s a matter of taste, but for me an additional 200 cards is well worth it to preserve consistency.

Also, a huge benefit to this system is that is bypasses the need for memory palaces when learning the images. This is because the grammar is restrictive enough to enable you to elicit images just by phonetic cues. Compared to the normal major system, the stricter grammar may seem like a drawback. But it isn’t.

Progress for far:
It’s difficult to calculate how long things will take just because the filling process isn’t constant. I should be done well within a month, though.

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Finwing, for free hosting Html+CSS+Javascript, you can use https://pages.github.com/

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Github Pages looks great, just what I was looking for. Thanks a lot!