The System
Each numeral is associated with one or more consonants. Vowels and the consonants w, h, y and x are ignored. These can be used as "fillers" to make sensible words from the resulting consonant sequences. The most popular mapping is:
| Numeral | Associated Consonants | Mnemonic |
| 0 | s, z, soft c | "z" is the first letter of zero. The other letters have a similar sound. |
| 1 | t, d | t & d have one downstroke and sound similar (some variant systems include "th") |
| 2 | n | n has two downstrokes |
| 3 | m | M has three downstrokes and looks like a "3" on its side |
| 4 | r | last letter of four, also 4 and R are almost mirror images of each other |
| 5 | l | L is the Roman Numeral for 50 |
| 6 | sh, j, soft "ch", dg, zh, soft "g" | a script j has a lower loop / g is almost a 6 rotated |
| 7 | k, hard c, hard g, hard "ch", q, qu | capital K "contains" two sevens (some variant systems include "ng") |
| 8 | f, v | script f resembles a figure-8. V sounds similar. |
| 9 | p, b | p is a mirror-image 9. b sounds similar and resembles a 9 rolled around |
| Unassigned | Vowel sounds, w,h,y,x | These can be used anywhere without changing a word's number value |
The groups of similar sounds and the rules for applying the mappings are almost always fixed, but other hooks and mappings can be used as long as the person using the system can remember them and apply them consistently. The magician Derren Brown, for instance, chooses the number 5 to map to the f and v sounds because the word 'five' uses both of those sounds.
Each numeral maps to a set of similar sounds with similar mouth and tongue positions. The link is phonetic, that is to say, it is the consonant sounds that matter, not the spelling. Therefore a word like action would encode the number 762 (k-ch-n), not 712 (k-t-n); and ghost would be 701 (g-z-t), while, because the gh in enough is pronounced like an f, the word enough encodes the number 28 (n-f). Similarly, double letters are disregarded. The word missile is mapped to 305 (m-z-l), not 3005 (m-z-z-l). To encode 3005 one would use something like mossy sail. Often the mapping is compact. Hindquarters, for example, translates unambiguously to 2174140 (n-d-qu-r-t-r-z), which amounts to 7 digits encoded by 8 letters, and can be easily visualized.
For most people it would be easier to remember 3.1415927 (the number known as pi) as:
| MeTeoR (314) TaiL (15) PiNK (927) |
Short term visual memory of imagined scenes allows large numbers of digits to be memorized with ease, though usually only for a short time.
Whilst this is unwieldy at first, with practice it can become a very effective technique. Longer-term memory may require the formulation of more object-related mnemonics with greater logical connection, perhaps forming grammatical sentences that apply to the matter rather than just strings of images.
The system can be employed with phone numbers. One would typically make up multiple words, preferably a sentence, or an ordered sequence of images featuring the owner of the number.
The Major System can be combined with a peg system for remembering lists, and is sometimes used also as a method of generating the pegs. It can also be combined with other memory techniques such as rhyming, substitute words, or the method of loci. Repetition and concentration using the ordinary memory is still required.
An advantage of the major system is that it is possible to use a computer to automatically translate the number into a set of words. One can then pick the best of several alternatives. Such programs include "Rememberg" or the freeware "2Know".
Read more about this topic: Mnemonic Major System
Famous quotes containing the word system:
“We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. “Strong and Sensitive Cats,” Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)
“It is not easy to construct by mere scientific synthesis a foolproof system which will lead our children in a desired direction and avoid an undesirable one. Obviously, good can come only from a continuing interplay between that which we, as students, are gradually learning and that which we believe in, as people.”
—Erik H. Erikson (20th century)