Major System

Mad rat story of pi

By Richard Anton

The Major System's historical significance and practical utility underscore its role as a cornerstone in the field of mnemonics

The roots of the Major System can be traced back several hundred years, with some speculating that the fundamental concepts may date back thousands of years (Art of Memory).

According to Wikipedia, Pierre Hérigone created the earliest version. The system as we know it now owes much to Francis von Feinaigle, an 18th-century German philosopher who is often credited with developing a method of linking numbers with letters to improve memory (Wikipedia).

In the 1820s, Aimé Paris refined the system into a more systematic approach, paving the way for what would become known as the phonetic mnemonic system, which linked numbers to certain consonant sounds, allowing for the formation of words and therefore making numerical sequences more easily remembered.

Others helped to develop the method further. Ernest Wood claimed to have modified von Feinaigle's approach, resulting in what is known as the current Major approach (Art of Memory). Wood's version reduced the process of translating numbers to sounds and then to words, making the system more efficient and user-friendly.

Modern Applications and Tools

The Major System remains a popular mnemonic technique for memorizing long numbers, playing cards, dates, and other information. It is used by memory athletes, students, professionals, and others to enhance their memory. Online tools and databases are now available that assist users in finding Major System mnemonic words for various number chains (The Mary Sue; Major System Database).

Using the Major System

The system operates on a fundamental principle: images can be remembered more easily than numbers. By converting numbers into consonant sounds, and then into words by adding vowels, the system allows for the creation of meaningful words or images that are far more memorable than the original numerical sequences. This mnemonic technique is particularly effective when combined with the memory palace technique, a method of associating information with specific locations in a familiar place (MindTools).

The major system maps the digits each to one or more consonant sounds. By combining these consonants with vowels, we can create words to represent numbers of one or more digits, typically 1, 2, or 3. Using words allows us to create mental images and link multiple words together into stories to remember large numbers by using our natural ability to recall visual images and narratives.

  • Consonant sounds (not letters, so double “tt” would only be one digit).
  • Vowels are not mapped to numbers, they are free.
DigitLetter
0s, z, soft c
1t, d, th
2n
3m
4r
5L(l)
6j, soft g, soft ch, sh
7k, hard c, hard g, hard ch, q, ck, qu
8v, f, ph
9p, b

Some examples of two-digit words are:

  • 33 → mom, ma’am, mummy, moo-moo, meme, memo
  • 74 → car, gar, Curie, grew, grow, carry
  • 91 → bat, bite, bad, boot, pet, pat, pot, body

A useful site for coming up with words for the major system is https://major-system.info.

An Example with Pi

Let's take the first sixteen digits of pi as an example of how to use this system.

First come up with some words for each pair of numbers. And connect them together into some kind of memorable narrative that you can visualize. After practice you can do this more naturally, but to get started I recommend listing out some candidate words for each couple of digits, then picking a chain of them you can make into a little story

3.141 5926 5358 9793 2384

3.1 → mat, mad, meds, met, meet, meat

41 → rat, rad, rot, red, reed

59 → lap, lab, lobe, lop, lope, lip

26 → nacho, enjoy, niche

53 → elm, Alamo, loom, loam, llama

58 → lava, laugh, leaf, live, loaf, life,

97 → back, pack, peck, bic, peak, pig, puck, pug, bug

93 → pam, bam, pam, opium, beam, puma,

23 → name, ‘nam, enemy, anime, anemia, gnome

84 → fire, far, fair, fry, fur, ivory, fare, faery

So, in brief, this gives us:

Mad, rat, lip, nacho, llama, lava, pack, puma, gnome, fire

And if we elaborate that into a story to visualize, we get this:

A mad rat bit my lip, made me spit out my nachos, and startled the llama, who stepped into the lava. I grabbed the pack they were carrying, but a puma jumped out of it and took off running past a gnome which jumped on as it ran away, and then caught on fire.

  1. mad -> 31
  2. rat -> 41
  3. lip -> 59
  4. nacho -> 26
  5. llama -> 53
  6. lava -> 58
  7. pack -> 97
  8. puma -> 93
  9. gnome -> 23
  10. fire -> 84

Practice Makes Perfect

This system is not too difficult to learn, but practice makes it progressively easier and faster to use. Be sure to set aside some time periodically to encode new numbers with it and recall important ones you have already encoded to maintain your memory of them.

It is especially useful for things like phone numbers, passport numbers, and other identifiers.

References