How to become a Memory Champion (Part 3)
In the third episode of How to become a Memory Champion you will learn how to memorize numbers with the Major System. It is a powerful tool which is used by the majority of mental athletes. Since it is based on a phonetic system, you will easily memorize all the images and go on to use it in action. But you must be careful with it: It will blow your mind!
Learning the Major System seems to be a big obstacle for many people. But it is very easy to memorize and a lot of fun to use!
The challenge of numbers
The memory of a human being varies from person to person. Although we all share more or less the same brain-physiology, there are huge differences in the way we all think and remember. Some people are excellent when it comes to memorize digits. They still remember the phone numbers from their friends in primary school. Others however forget the four digits of their cash cards in an instant. I have no actual statistics about that, but I assume that most people have problems with numbers. So why do we forget about digits so easily?
The reason why numbers are so troublesome for many people, is that they are an abstract entity. They characterize an amount of something, but are nothing we can see, hold or feel. We can’t even discribe what they mean. Sure, you can try it for a very low digit. But when it comes to more than ten you will have huge problems. The conclusion for us is, to make numbers more concrete.
How to memorize a number
To manifest a number you have to alter it into something else. It doesn’t really matter into what, as long as you can imagine it. Since we have a decimal system, we need to translate at least ten images for each number. The lists you create out of those objects are called “peg lists“. Once you memorized such a list, you can use it over and over again.
One approach is through the shape of each number. For example: The “two” looks just like a swan. But don’t bother learning such a simple system. Why? At first, you don’t use the power of clusters. That means, putting several informations into one image. To remember a phone number with eight digits, you would also need eight images. Although it helps to remember it, the effort is to big for such a simple task. Second of all, ten images are not enough to have a variety for different stories. Imagine you have to make a story for a number with four “twos”. You would have to put four swans in your mental image. If you want to memorize digits effectevly, you will need a more evolved system. So let’s skip this and go on to the 2-digit-Systems.
The different peg systems
The smallest cluster for decimal digits are 100 images for each combination of two numbers. There are two common peg systems to accomplish that. The second most common one is the Dominic system. It was created by eight-times World Memory Champion Dominic O’Brien and is based on persons. This system is great, but (in my personal opinion) not as good as the Major System.
Due to its phonetic basis, the queen under all mnemonic systems is the easiest way to associate images with 100 numbers in a short time. And you have a great alternation in different objects. In the end it doesn’t matter what kind of system you use if you have the same amount of informations stored as images.
The Major System
The Major System is a phonetic technique to “translate” numbers into words. It starts with converting digits into consonant sounds. After that you add vowels before, between and after those letters. The phonetic rules have hooks to remember them very quickly. That helps you to reconstruct the words in the learning phase. After a while you will have strong associations with each number from 00 to 99. It seems like a huge effort to make things easier for your memory. But it isn’t that difficult and in the end you will never have to think about it again. You will just know it.
Another great thing about the Major System is the fact, that it is based on levels. You can improve it by adding a third number to your cluster (3rd level). That would mean to memorize 1.000 objects, before you can use it (or 900 since you already learned the first 100). But that is nothing you should think about for startes. Actually you are able to get the memory crown even with a 2nd-level-system. There are only a handful of people using a 3rd-level-system. And there is a nice alternative: With PVO (person-verb-object) you only need 300 images and your clusters include even six digits. I don’t say one or the other is better. They both have their qualities. But all that is something you first need the basics for. I will come back to the high-end-systems in a future episode of “How to become a Memory Champion”.
The rules: 86 is a fish
The following rules are the basics of the system. You have to memorize them in order to create and reconstruct your pegs. I teached them to dozens of children. They were all able to learn them in about ten minutes. Without an oral explanation, it might take a little bit longer, but you get my point: It is very simple!
Let’s have a look at the rules:
[table id=2 /]
Since I use the slightly different german version of the system, I rely on the great explanation on Wikipedia, to describe it further:
- Each digit maps to a set of similar sounds with similar mouth and tongue positions. The mapping is phonetic, so it is the consonant sounds that matter, not the spelling. Therefore a word like “action” would encode the number 762, not 712; and “ghost” would be 701, while, because the “gh” in “enough” is pronounced like an “f”, the word “enough” encodes the number 28.
- Similarly, double letters are disregarded. The word “missile” is mapped to 305, not 3005. To encode 3005 one would use something like “mossy sail”.
- Often the mapping is compact. “Hindquarters”, for example, translates unambiguously to 2174140, which amounts to 7 digits encoded by 12 letters, and can be easily visualized.
You see, the big fish (86) under the peg systems is quite a powerful technique to memorize numbers. 
Create your own list
If you are sticking to the rules above, there are few things you can make wrong. You can even use abstract words like “time” if you have a strong visual association for it like a clock. Stay strictly with the rules in the beginning. It will help you to memorize the words. Later you can jump around and use any words to replace your weaker images. I changed several pegs in my system over time without using the Major System anymore. But to learn the whole pack at once, the rules are a must have.
Another thing to consider is, to exclude words with more than two consonants from your 2nd-level list. That makes it easier afterwards to expand your system to the 3rd-level. And you even don’t have to come up with the correct words yourself. There are free programs for that, which help you to find proper images:
- 2Know Mnemonic Software
- Mnemisis
- In German only – a free online Major-Code: Zahlen merken
How to use your Major System
The easiest thing about your Major System is to use it. You already learned how to create your path with the method of loci in the first episode of How to become a Memory Champion. Bring those two systems together and use associations like you learned in the second episode. That is all. You should now be able to remember as many numbers as you like. Just translate the images you remember back to the digits. With the help of your elephant path you will bring them back in the right order.
Do you remember my example with the banana and the table from the second episode? If not, I will repeat it for you: You want to remember the banana and your journey point is the table. In this case the banana would be your word for your 3rd-level association 922 (BaNaNa). Now you use your imagination to create a little story worth remembering. And it is even easier than to memorize exactly the word banana (like you must in the championship disciplines for words), because it doesn’t matter if you remember one or many – the number stays the same. Ok, you may argue that BaNaNaS should be the number 9220, but you do know if you use a 3rd-level or 4th-level system – so every optional consonant is irrelevant. Let’s have a look at a few possible associations with the banana and the table:
- The table is not made of wood, but out of bananas instead. You better do not stand on it!
- There is a boxing ring on the table, where two bananas fight to the death.
- Why to make it complex? Just take the banana and smash it on the table. Weeks later you will still find parts of the banana all over your place.
That’s it! You are now able to start your training. The actual world record in 5 minute Numbers is 405 digits by Johannes Mallow. He is using a 3rd-level Major System. 
Tell us what system you are using.
