I’m using major system to memorize numbers and dates but how to get mneumonic images for decimal numbers scientific numbers etc. for example= 1 light year is equal to 9.461 x 10¹²
If you use a 2-digit Major system, I’d suggest you use:
- one image for the exponent e.g. 12 (or 04 with leading 0, if the exponent is less than 10);
- other images for the significant digits, e.g. 94 then 61; and
- common sense to determine whether the exponent is positive or negative e.g. 1 light year is clearly longer than one metre.
One small issue is that some numbers will have many significant digits e.g. pi = 3.1415926… × 10^0. Two ways to fix this—put the exponent image either:
- always in the same type of place e.g. at the entrance to the room/space; or
- always first, so e.g. 9.461 × 10^12 → 12|94|61
Other issues:
- If you have an odd amount of significant digits, e.g. 1.2345 × 10^67, then pad with a zero: 67|12|34|50
- If your exponent is 100+, then you’ll need an adjustment… but realistically this is very rare! probably you can “just remember” if you ever have one. The largest one I used in Physics was Planck’s constant at 6.626 × 10^–34. [Note: I still remember this 17 years after I last used it, without mnemonics—showing the power of spaced repetition and why things like Major System is only my Plan C when other learning strategies aren’t enough.]
This is literally the topic of the book I’m writing at the moment. Give me a little while to get through the drafting stage 
but @Daniel_360 is largely on the money with much of it (I would warn that Benford’s law causes a lot of trouble for many approaches)
1 Like
Can u explain how to convert it into a mneumonic image and store in my palace.
for example in my palace square of
49 = NURSE 240(1)
last digit is 1 when the unit digit is 9
Sorry, I don’t understand your question at all.
Ooh good point re: Benford’s Law, although hopefully not significant unless you want to store a huge quantity of numbers. Otherwise just assume that all physical constants are approximately 1.000 × 10^–10 lol.
1 Like
What is your image/images for 1 light year? And how do u know where is the decimal point
In scientific notation, there is always one digit before the decimal point.
So if you remember 9461 as the significant digits, it must certainly mean 9.461.
The exponent (12) is encoded as a separate image, as I explained: 12|94|61
So in this case, you’d use three images: for 12; for 94; and for 61. There is no ambiguity, as long as you can determine from the context whether it’s 9.461 × 10^12 (large) or 9.461 × 10^–12 (tiny).
1 Like
Indeed - there is no(ish) issue with doing it for ten or so, but I think the issue grows rapidly after that - as does padding with zeros at the other end. Like, Neutron Mass, Proton Mass, and Elementary charge all start with the same digits.
FWIW I think this is a general problem when using the Major System to generate pegs - it’s great for truly random digits of that are of predicable length or infinitely long (Pi for example) , but as soon as there is a regular structure (phone numbers for example), the performance degrades. I would contrast that against using the Major system directly on numbers, which is much more cognitively demanding, but provides better long-term recall.
3 Likes
Thanks I understand now.How would you memorize when the decimal point is different…For example age of universe is 13.7 billion years.How would u memorize 13.7?
In scientific notation, that is 1.37 × 10^10 years (1.37 × “ten billion” years).
13.7 × 10^9 is not in standard form.
Of course, whether you want to memorize everything in standard form is a question for you about your goals.
1 Like
Couple ideas about decimals here: How to distinguish decimals like 0.0047 and 0.047
1 Like
I like your bowling bowl method coz I remember visual imagery easily.
Someone also explained u can imagine the decimal numbers are frozen to differentiate them from the original number.So when making images to the right of the decimal point just add snow elements in your images.
Sure, whatever makes sense to you. There are no rules when it comes to this stuff, you have to just try different things and see what works.
1 Like
Just make a new PAO for whatever you want to insert. For a period I use Betty Boop stamping a plunger. For 10^ an Eskimo encapsulating the Eiffel Tower . Then just insert the P or A or O into your number where it needs to go.
Repeated digit substrings is an issue I ran into when using the Major system to encode Rubik’s cube algorithms. I soon understood why pros compress them into common patterns like Sledgehammer and Sexy Move.
1 Like
It’s absolutely not mentioned enough.
1 Like
I don’t have a pao seems like too much work with low ROI I just use major system and sometimes shape system.
Can u explain how use your system to memorize decimal numbers?