How to Memorize Anything (24 page)

Example 4:

You might see the word
‘beautiful’
written somewhere.

Break it down into numbers as
‘9185’

and the word
‘letter’
would break down to
‘514’

(the double tt is the same sound as the single t here, thus representing 1 and not 11).

Whenever you see a number, think of its sound in your mind.

Example 5:

If you see a number
4285
on a number plate,

you should be able to read it as r,n,f,l,

which can further be converted into a word
‘rainfall’.

4285 = RaiNFalL

Now practice it by completing the following table:

* Refer to end of chapter for answers

MEMORIZING PHONE NUMBERS

Being too dependent on technology has its disadvantages. What would you do if, one day, you forget your phone at home and then get into trouble somewhere. Won’t you feel helpless if you don’t remember anybody’s mobile number? You can use the Phonetic Peg system to memorize important mobile numbers with ease.

Let’s say you want to memorize the mobile number of your aunt, i.e.
9810120337

The first step is to divide the number in a group of two digits:

98/10/12/03/37

Now give phonetic codes to each group:

best friend dosa den sumo mike

Now, associate these words using the chain method:

Visualize that your aunt is sitting with her
best friend
, and both are eating a
dosa
in a
dens
.
Suddenly a
sumo
(wrestler)
came, and your aunt starts screaming on a
mike
.

This way you can memorize as many mobile numbers as you want.

R
ELATE AND
I
MAGINE

Caution:
While visualizing the mobile number converted into words, always imagine the person whose number you are memorizing. This way there will be no confusion as to whose number it is.

MEMORIZING ATM PIN

Create one word for the four digit number (if possible) or create two images by dividing the number into two groups of two digits each.

Bank ATM PIN number –
9421

9421 = p+ r + n + t

9421 =
PRINT

Visualization:
Just imagine that as you insert your bank card in the ATM, the machines starts
printing
your account statement.

The same method can be applied to remember the codes of your locks for baggage, door, or lockers.

MEMORIZING 20-DIGIT NUMBERS AND BEYOND

Let’s memorize the 20-digit number given at the beginning of this chapter, i.e.

73841959213218421734

Write the letters corresponding to the given digits in the number below them:

7384195921321 8421 734

k m f r t b l p n t m n t f r n d k m r

Split these letters into small groups to form some words out of them:

7384195921321 8421 734

k m f r t b l p n t m n t f r n d k m r

Comfortable appointment friend camera
(by adding vowels in between the characters)

So now it becomes easy to remember just four words or you can add a few more words to make more meaningful sentence like ‘It is very
comfortable
to take an
appointment
with my
friend
to see his
camera
’.

You may also split the numbers in group of two digits and use the phonetic codes memorized
(from 00 to 99)
to convert them into words and then visualize them using chain method.

Try it now:

73 =
KomB

84 = ________

19 = ________

59 = ________

21 = ________

32 = ________

18 = ________

42 = ________

17 = ________

34 = ________

Now after converting these numbers into phonetic codes (which are images), memorize them by using the chain method
(refer to
chapter 4
)
or hide-and-seek method
(refer to
chapter 9
)
.

MEMORIZING BIRTHDATES AND ANNIVERSARIES

‘Does your husband forget your birthday?’
‘Never. I remind him of it in January and again in June,
and I always get two gifts in a year.’

Though the above anecdote is the exaggeration of the situation, many a times we do forget birthdays and anniversaries of important people in our life. Many a times we remember the month but get confused about the date. A friend of mine always wishes me one or two days before or after my birthday, as she always fails to remember the exact date.

Using memory techniques you can now remember them easily without any confusion.

Birthday or anniversary dates can be divided into two parts:

Numerical Part (date) + Month

Suppose you want to remember that your friend’s birthday is on
23
^rd
February
.

The numerical part can be converted into images by using the phonetic peg method. The 12 months can be given images according to some important day, event, or occasion occurring in that month.

Here are some such images for months:

If a particular month reminds you of some other important event from your life, you can relate its image accordingly.

Now your friend’s
birthday
is on
23
^rd
February:

23: Neem
(phonetic code)

February: Rose
(Valentine’s day)

Visualization:

Visualize that on her birthday, your friend is
cutting a cake
made up of
roses
and wearing a hat with
neem
leaves all over it.

Let’s say your Boss’
anniversary
is on
2
^nd
December
.

02: Sun
(phonetic code)

December: Santa Claus

Visualization
:

Visualize that your Boss is giving anniversary party on the
Sun
and
Santa Claus
is giving gifts to everybody.

Once you master this system of pegging, you will overcome a lot of hurdles related to memorizing day-to-day things.

L
ESSEN THE
S
TUDENT’S
B
URDEN

We will see more usage of phonetic peg system in the
student’s section
for learning the values of:
Cube, cube roots, square, square roots, reciprocals, history dates, constants, periodic table, number system, formulae, melting point, boiling point, etc.

* ANSWERS:

C
HAPTER AT A GLANCE

• To memorize long numbers, we use the Advanced Peg system or the Phonetic Peg system.
  
• In this method we assign a letter to numbers from 0–9 and using those letters we convert a group of numbers into meaningful words.
  
• Steps to memorize long numbers:
  

1. Assign a phonetic code to each numeral

The five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and the soft constants sounds wa, ha, ya are not assigned to any number.

2. Form meaningful words using those letters

• While converting numbers into words, we may
  add any vowel
  (a, e, i, o, u) or any other alphabets in between the fixed codes.
  Example: 94 = b + r ; 94= BeaRorBeeR
  
• When two or more words come to your mind for a particular number, choose that word which you can see clearly in your mind.
  
• Pay attention only to the sound or pronunciation of the word and not to the spelling.
  

3. Use the chain method or the hide-and-seek method to memorize the sequence of words.

• This technique can be used to memorize:
  
  • Mobile numbers
    
  • ATM pins
    
  • Bank account numbers
    
  • 20 digit numbers and beyond.
    
  • Birthdays and anniversaries etc.
    
• In academics it can be used to memorize cube, cube roots, square, square roots, reciprocals, history dates, constants, periodic table, number system, formulae, melting point, boiling point, etc.
  
• Memory masters all over the world use this technique, along with other techniques, to create records.
  

14

CREATE YOUR OWN PEG SYSTEM