My First Single-Digit PAO System

General Memory Chat
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So, I tried putting together a 00-99 PAO system, but it was a total headache. Keeping all those characters and mental images separate was super tough. That’s when I decided to simplify things and create a 0-9 PAO system instead. I picked famous and easy-to-remember people, which made it way easier to group numbers into three-digit chunks and memorize them. Here’s what I came up with:

Single-digit PAO system

Digit Person Action Object
0 Selena Gomez Swims Spoon
1 Thomas Edison Throws Thatch
2 Nikola Tesla Nails Nest
3 Michael Jackson Mends Mop
4 Bertrand Russell Reaches Ring
5 Lionel Messi Lifts Ladder
6 Sherlock Holmes Shreds Shoe
7 Keanu Reeves Kicks Key
8 Vincent Willem van Gogh Vomits Vase
9 Billie Eilish Brushes Bed

Here are some examples using the single-digit PAO system:

Example 1: 123

  • 1: Thomas Edison
  • 2: Nails
  • 3: Mop

The mental image would be of Thomas Edison (perhaps in his typical inventor’s attire) using a hammer to nail a mop.

Example 2: 405

  • 4: Bertrand Russell
  • 0: Swims
  • 5: Ladder

Picture Bertrand Russell, the famous philosopher and logician, swimming gracefully in a pool or a body of water. Instead of swimming toward a typical object like a buoy or a dock, he’s swimming toward a ladder, perhaps trying to climb out of the water using it.

Example 3: 789

  • 7: Keanu Reeves
  • 8: Vomits
  • 9: Bed

Imagine Keanu Reeves, the charismatic and down-to-earth actor, feeling unwell in his bed. He’s been battling a stomach bug, and suddenly, he can’t hold it back any longer. Instead of reaching for a container or making a dash for the bathroom, he vomits directly onto his bed.

Your thoughts?

So, there you have it: a simplified PAO system using single digits and memorable characters. To recall the number chunks in order, simply use a memory palace or mental journey. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this PAO system! Have you tried something similar, or do you have any suggestions for improvements?

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I have used single digit PAO already. It is a good and experimental start for beginners. :+1:

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Nice list but you know you are only one small step away from making a Major System PAO for 100 numbers from #00 - #99. You can do it either as a single name following Major System or as a First Name + Surname which I have done using the initials of the 100 cast of characters. Whilst you may not know all my characters, you can probably use many of them? Who better than "Mike Tyson as #31 or MT = Mike Tyson (P)/ Biting (A)/ an Ear (O)?

Anyway if it helps here are my 100 People for Major to adapt as necessary if you want to take things further:

image
image795×598 187 KB

Good luck with it!

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If there are no issues with the individual images, the trick might be to use them before you learn them. Find areas with numbers to practice on, look at your list, place the images and later decode them.

The images I tried to grind into memory took many sessions per day, and many days to make stick. The images I just used could be learned as fast as one use.
Recently made a throw-away example to describe remembering information on the table of elements, where I used a revolver for the number 6. It’s just there, basically by accident, while Jafar’s serpent staff (6 sticks rhyme) took ages to get down.
Makes sense, just had to experience it to realize it.

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This is a really good suggestion.
I learnt my 00-99 P(A)O basically by using it. Only when I noticed that I missed about a dozen people/objects to fill the list, did I made one. The fluency you have when you begin by using something and formalizing it later, rather than begining with memorisation from the start (which I’m doing for 000-999) is VERY noticeable.

A bit like learning grammar rules to explain the patterns that you already noticed producing a language instead of learning grammar rules and painfully trying to produce the language afterwards.

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Another strategy that I’ve found useful is to compile a music list to play in the car while driving to represent all your characters for #00 - #99.

Obviously singers would naturally have their own songs, and other characters would have a song that fits their profile, e.g. #35 = Mona Lisa (as sang by Nat King Cole)!
Here are a few examples of my play list to illustrate:

#00 = Sylvester Stallone = Eye of the Tiger (Theme tune to “Rocky”)
#01 = Sophia Tucker = I’m the Last of the Red Hot Mamas
#02 = Stevie Nicks = Gypsy
#03 = Steve Martin = Dentist Song (Little Shop of Horrors)
#04 = Seth Rogen = Ditch Days
#05 = Sophia Loren = Goodness Gracious Me! (Comedy Song)
#06 = Steve Jobs = The Life of Steve Jobs Song
#07 = Siya Kolisi = Gwijo compare to #89 = Francois Pienaar
#89 = Francois Pienaar = SA National Anthem (Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika)
#08 = Sigmund Freud = Doctor Freud - Pete Seeger (worth a listen to)
#09 = St. Peter - “16 Tons” or “When the Saints Go Marching In”
#10 = Tom Selleck = “Magnum PI” opening theme tune

Well you can very much devise your own “theme tunes for each of the 100 cast of characters”. You can even cunningly use Elton John’s tune “Nikita” for #27 Nikita Khrushchev and Elton John’s “Candles in the Wind” song for Elton John himself, (representing number #56)! It’s obviously your choice as is the Queen song: “Killer Queen” which reminds me of Nikita Khrushchev too:

1st verse of Killer Queen:
" She keeps her Moët et Chandon
In her pretty cabinet
“Let them eat cake, " she says
Just like Marie Antoinette
A built-in remedy
For Khrushchev and Kennedy
At anytime an invitation
You can’t decline…”

My go to song for Freddie Mercury = #83 is “We are the Champions” (Yours may differ, if you want to give this system a try)? Bohemian Rhapsody maybe? It’s up to you?!

Ultimately the #00 - #99 characters will be etched on your brain after a weeks listening to the music. If you have the shuttle facility after you know the songs to number correspondences well, you can even randomize the playlist, so it doesn’t play it in chronological order from #00 to #99.

#99 is incidentally Henri Mancini’s theme to “The Pink Panther” which should come as no surprise. Once you know all the PEOPLE who correspond to each NUMBER, you can skip after naming the PEOPLE after only listening to a few barres of each song in a randomized order.

I believe the key to learning is PLAYING (no pun intended). Learning your cast of one hundred characters shouldn’t be a chore - it should be FUN!

By the way, in case you are wondering #75 = King Louis XIV is Alan Sherman’s song King Louis…

Anybody else thought of learning their PEOPLE pegs in this way?

#31 = Mike Tyson has the weirdest music of all as his “pre-fight music”, have a listen to the menacing drone in the video clip below. Compare to Sylvester Stallone’s wannabee boxer “Eye of the Tiger” as #00:

Post scriptum: Why do Americans spell King Louis as King Louie? Not that it’s important! LOL!

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Sorry I didn’t mean to hi-jack your thread we’ve wandered a little off your original topic which I thought was a good idea.

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Almost, but no I didn’t think to give everyone a theme song. For #6 I have a siren playing a lyre, and she/the lyre is associated with:

It’s a great idea, already stashed it away in my notes for later. Thanks for sharing.

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I pondered this path as well. It’s of course effective for memorization. However, I find it extra work for little results. Some people have single lists of three digits (which I think is the efficiency threshold).

If you don’t want to make many lists, consider these:
PO (Person Object) or PA (Person Action)
You can have a P list of 00-99. And a O list of 0-9. You can even use the Body Method on your Ps and expand to more than three digits at a time. Examples:

Lea Seydoux (50) - holds a candle (1) in her right hand and a trident (3) in her left (I visualize my Ps looking at me, when using the BM). Then, the mnemonic would “5013”, a PO. If multiple Os, simply order from left to right.

I consider As to be way more memorable and even more difficult to forget (if you reuse places or you have a very good visualizing level… this could be a problem depending on your goals). Example:
247 → Bae Doona swings a axe/bat like object.

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