Newest and Easiest 3 Digit Number System

General Memory Chat
1

I think I am the first one to come up with this elegant but simple 3 digit system.

All this system takes is your current double digit system … All you are going to do is ad 10 more images to your systems in order to make a new 3 digit system.

What you are going to do is change the digits 0-9 into modifiers that will modify your image for you number system. Let use a P number system for example.

Say you have 0 =Wings and your image for 53=Elmo. Take for example 053:

What you would see for 053 is Elmo with wings. You would know the number you memorized is 053 because 53 is Elmo and since he has wings you know it is 0. SO the number is 053.

You would go through and create modifiers for the rest of the digits 0-9. I know you might be saying what if you have like 5 000’s in a row. Yes, you would have 5 images in a row with wings but the images you would be modifying would most likely be different.

Maybe you had 053 095 024 012 058. Everything would have wings but your images could be elmo, bunny, Norris, debbie, and Lion, respectively. It is hard to confuse Elmo with a bunny right? SO even if you have the same modifier the images would be completely different.

It would take practice to automatically add the modifier to your images but with any system it would take awhile to get all the images down especially if you have a 1000 images for the traditional 3 digit system. I think Learning 10 modifiers is a lot easier then trying to remember 1000 images. Math would say hahah

Here are possible modifiers you could use:

0-wings
1-tail
2-Big claws
3-Clown shoes
4-Mohawk
5-Long Tongue
6-Helmet
7-Spikes
8-Furry
9-Naked

You would just need modifiers that would stick out. Let me know what you think of my 3 digit number system.

Ideas for (bypassing) major system
2

I use a similar method, making use of Images from the periodic table. Previously, I used other images, but decided to make use of the elements a few weeks back.

One difference is that I only use this to supplement for three digit numbers that I don’t have a good word for. So, for 839, I would simply use Vamp, but for 866 I might use Ox + GI Joe.

The images I use for the first 10 elelments are:

  1. Hydra (Hydrogen)
  2. Balloon (Helium)
  3. Lift (Lithium)
  4. Barrel (Beryllium)
  5. Borat (Boron)
  6. Car bomb (Carbon)
  7. Knight (nitrogen)
  8. Ox (Oxygen)
  9. Flowers (Fluorine)
  10. Neo (Neon)

I like using it as a supplemental only, as that limits the number of times each of these words has to be used. There are a lot of 3-digit words I can easily find words for–probably more than those that require a helper image.

3

You’re not the second either. On these forums I have read several versions of this idea. And I had the same hunch early on, which is why I chose to do this for my second number system, though I believed then what I still believe today, which is that if 10 modifiers work to create a 3 digit system, then 100 modifiers work to create a 4-digit system. Unfortunately I now think neither of those are true.

But since it looks like a good idea on the surface, it’s very close to my first number system to ever use, which was 100 “modifiers” and 100 objects. I asked Ben in a PM what he thought of the method, and he told me the same thing that I’m about to tell you. Still, I moved forward with it and took it to my first USAMC over 3 years ago. I wasn’t any good with it, but we can chalk that up to the fact that I had only been memorizing for a few months.

So how is it working out? I assume you already have 100 objects - does that mean already using this method?

Hopefully it is going well though so you can show me to be wrong. I don’t believe that this is an effective way to create and use 1000 objects, though as you say, it would be a very easy way to make 1000 objects compared to what we typically do (which is why you should be testing it if you believe in the idea!)

I think that what you are talking about is 10 1-digit objects and 100 2-digit objects, in other words just a less efficient 2-digit system.

(?) Instead of making “0” wings and “1” tail, why don’t you make “00” wings and “01” tail, which you add to the following object in order to modify it? Then you would get the same effect as a 4-digit system, or?

I use 1000 Major System objects. For me, 531 is a wagging tail that attaches to my next object like you’ve described. So if 531 comes first of two objects in a locus, then we could say I was using a “6-digit system.” Why not?

If you work with this, you’ll be doing basically the same thing we do with PA/PAO: creating a unique-ish image by modifying the second with the first. And you’ll probably be reading it as two objects in much the same way.

The only exception is if you get so good at the method that you are in fact reading it as one image. This requires you to know each of the 1000 images ahead of time - otherwise you are making a split-second modification, like you do with PA. This would be most quickly accomplished by making appropriate modifications to distinguish the groups of 100, such as making Elmo’s wings red and fuzzy.

If you do know them that well, then you’ve got a true 3-digit system. But it’s not going to be any easier to learn than any other 3-digit system. It will be very quick to name, but not easier to learn. But I don’t think it would be any better. However, it might not be worse.

There is one big advantage over typical 3-digit systems. I hate the idea of building a system based on the assumption that mistakes will be made, but the advantage you would have here is that if you forget an object, you may be able to mentally cycle through the ten modifier objects to see which one looks the most familiar. Then you could potentially cycle through those 100 and be able to fill the blank. But I don’t think that will be likely to happen because having the exact same 10 modifiers come up 100 times per 300#s memorized is going to make it very hard to remember which was in that blank locus. It’ll be like the problems Boris had with multi-deck using only 52 objects. It was enough to drive him to create a Ben System even though he was so good at speed cards already that he had no need to use it for anything other than multideck!

4

Hello Johnny, I don’t think this is an efficient 3 digit system. The images are not distinct. Even if you can automatically see what they look like, you will need to remember 2 things: Elmo and if Elmo has wings. The overall image of Elmo will stick out but you have a decent chance of mixing up the similar Elmo’s. these ten modifiers introduce a cause of error when you try to recall the images. I think you are trying to patch together a loci and you feel like you put something red in there, then with a proper 3 digit system, you will be able to remember the image. your repetition of modifiers would be ridiculous. Do understand why I think this would be a problem?

I have something similar happen for cards. I do 2 cards/loci so a lot of my images are a fused 2 card image of my one card words but It’s not as efficient as a real 2 card system.

I was actually on a hunt for a while for words that would make a system like this work better. For example, I find a word like “Red” is useful to make things distinct. I know someone who’s nickname is red so an image could be in the form “Red’s Dog”, “Red’s Son” or “Red’s chair” but that gets old because most people have similar looking stuff. Then there could be red as a color like a Red dress, but this puts a limit on how many different dress colors you have or weather you’re going to use dress often instead of a different word like disco. Red can also be used as “Red Man” or “Red Herring”.

Do you see how these all have logical connections. I will remember a person like Red’s son and it is only one thing. I know who his father is and I won’t have to focus on a detail like wings or the color of the shirt he’s wearing. There is also a very distinct difference between a Red man, a Red Herring and Red’s Chair.

I was on a hunt for words that are versatile for combining for a while based on some reading I did about Wang Feng’s system. Most of my 2 digit system is a bit tricky like that. Rock can be a person, object and modifier but the ways to modify are more versatile. A rock tree could be a figurine sized thing but a Rock fish is completely distinct. Rose is another one because I have a friend called rose.

Another thing to worry about is how these modifiers will affect your linking ability. Claws, Spikes and the tongue create a really strong feeling when I think about them but that could cause serious problems if they affect your linking in any way. Imagine if you had the same basic interactions of slashing claws, licking tongues, and puncturing spikes. It would make everything feel the same and that would cause problems. It’d be like PAO with 10 A’s.

Anyway, I think your basic Idea has potential if you find a way to get the images to be more distinct so you don’t need to focus on details. There are other similar ideas. I may be wrong but I think I heard that Nelson just took his 100 images and added 10 images that related to it. I’m really stretching but I think he said that he took something like basketball and then picked 10 famous basketball players and did that to make his 3 digit system.

5

Your linking something new, we do that with everything here. And the ONE thing to link staying the same like your “wings”, you can check out the big super grand system or whatchomIcallit of Buzan, just expanding the major system a bit, but as you are doing, the same principal can be used to expand anysystem in different ways. I think Its actually the definition of mnemonic pretty much. But I find the experiment with a 100 images system to be interesting. I usually use this throughout my journeys, to give them different dimensions. Thank you very much for sharing, Im just now gettin ginto numbers so its a real good brainwashing thread for me.

here it is found it !

http://www.memory-sports.com/blog/memory-techniques/self_enhanced_memory_matrix/

P.Sremembering and learning those extra 10 things to transform from100 with the intention of using them to be able to recall on the fly one or many of 1000 images is NOT easier than learning 1000 images and associate them to numbers; Just pick 100 images and give each 10 diferent images, or substract 10, whatever, just pop out 10 mini versions of them, or just 1000 images (just looking around at any given time I can pick out 1000 faster than anyone can get the hang of adding wings and other things every single time there is a 3 digit number)and youll have a much easier time afterwards (more original images and in my experience, more fun, more chances they are memorable enough)mmm I forgot what I was going to say next ! heheh Cheers all !

PPPSS. my very last two too crazy cents:

with your 100 images, link them to a thousand things around you that you naturally order by size(and have to reorder the rare mistake(sun, spacecraft, piramid, …buliding,… house, …bus, …elephant (or elephant bus ? heeh)tiger,… couch,… toothbrush…nose…teeth…sand… OR by alphabetical or any other form of sequencing, but I suggest practicing by images atrributes, so size, location, etc.)Play with them, have the first, push the other, eat the other, etc, and then link them to your 100 images, and youve got how many ? and then its time to learn and develop the recalling of those wooooooo FUN!

6

I could be wrong but my own intuition is that this will work if you’re only trying to remember a few very short sequences of numbers here and there, but that it will quickly become confusing for longer sequences. I once tried something similar using colors. Blue Elmo, black Elmo, pink Elmo and so on. It didn’t work with me but maybe your 3-digits system will work perfectly for you.

7

I know the ways to expand a two digit system into a 3 digit system. The idea here is not to have to create a lot more images but trying to make do with what you have.The way I am talking about has nothing to do with expanding into a more complicated system. Its about getting a quick and easy 3 digit system. Maybe this way is not useful for memory competitions which is fine but who knows since it really comes down to practice.

This could be used for general learning of numbers. I am aware that the modifiers would appear more often but whom the modifier is attached to would be less common repetition of course depending on what is being learned.

trying to use colors for a modifier doesn’t really work because if you are going quickly its hard to solidify the color but also Elmo is red. Is kind of hard to see him not red. When it is something like wings or claws, it is a lot easier to distinguish between the two. These are more additions to the person.